Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 November 2022
231. Deputy Joe McHugh asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his attention has been drawn to the importance that the producer organisation status of an organisation (details supplied) is recognised; if he will consider 50% advance funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58448/22]
View answerThe present EMFF Producer Organisation Scheme provides supports to recognised and prospective Producer Organisations. Part A of the scheme provides supports of up to €55,000 to groups of fisheries or aquaculture producers working to achieve recognition as a PO, while Part B of the scheme supports POs that have been recognised by this Department, up to a maximum of almost €100,000.
The EU Common Provisions Regulation (1303/2013) provides that grants under the EMFF Programme may take the form of reimbursement of eligible costs actually incurred and paid by the beneficiary, or alternatively through 'Simplified Cost Options' or SCOs, which are essentially fixed grants based on the past grant history of the beneficiary. As the organisation (details supplied) is only commencing implementation of its first Production and Marketing Plan (PMP) in 2022, in accordance with the EU Regulations, it will become due for support for implementation of its PMP after submission in 2023 of it’s Annual Report on 2022 activities and related grant claim and vouching documentation.
Article 66 of the EMFF Regulation (508/2014) allows the Managing Authority for the EMFF Programme to avail of a partial derogation from the above regulatory requirements, in that a 50% advance may be paid after approval of the Producer Organisations PMP. However, this derogation was not included in the terms of the Producer Organisation scheme, adopted at the outset of the Programme by the EMFF Monitoring Committee, of which the organisation is now a member.
The Irish scheme as adopted by the EMFF Monitoring Committee states that only once the relevant Producer Organisation’s Production and Marketing Plan (PMP) is approved by this Department as the competent authority and the Producer Organisation’s Annual Report for the year concerned is also approved; expenditure related to the implementation of identified measures by the Producer Organisation in the approved PMP and as verified by the Annual Report, supported by the necessary vouching documentation, is eligible for support under the scheme.
Ireland did not avail of the article 66 derogation as advance payments require the sanction of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and in the absence of official data in the form of grant history, the derogation was not considered to be workable in practice as there is no data on which to base a 50% advance.
In a scenario where the proposed actions described in a Producer Organisation’s PMP have not yet been implemented and the Annual Report has not been prepared; the costs of actions actually implemented are not known, and so a 50% calculation cannot be made. I strongly value the contributions of all the producer organisations and look forward to the receipt of thst organisations PMP and Annual Report.
