Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 May 2023
54. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to clarify the exact amount of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve Fund that has been reallocated from expenditure on fisheries and the marine to other Government Departments. [18287/23]
View answerThe European Union’s Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR), provides support to counter the adverse economic, social, territorial, and environmental consequences of the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union.
The application for BAR funding must set out the negative impacts of the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union and demonstrate how the measures carried out under the Fund alleviate the adverse consequences. The Government has therefore, over a series of budgets, allocated BAR funding across a number of impacted sectors in order to mitigate those adverse effects of Brexit.
It is important to note that in general the BAR allocation made by the EU was not broken down into allocations to a range of particular sectors, but rather to support member states generally in addressing Brexit impacts. The only exception to this rule was in respect of fisheries, where a minimum amount of €55.6 million was to be allocated to fisheries from Ireland's overall BAR allocation.
To date, my Department has conveyed sanction to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Marine for approximately €253 million of BAR expenditure for the Fisheries sector. It will be noted that this far exceeds the minimum amount required by the EU. Brexit related schemes which have been sanctioned by my Department to date for fisheries and the marine include, but are not limited to:
• Temporary Fleet Tie-up schemes,
• Brexit Voluntary Permanent Cessation Scheme,
• the Brexit Sustainable Aquaculture Growth Scheme, and
• a Capital support scheme for the seafood processing sector.
Officials in my Department are currently engaging in a review exercise of Brexit related spending, from the 1st of January 2020 to the end of December 2023, for possible inclusion in Ireland’s BAR claim to the EU Commission in September 2024. This involves engaging with Departments, including with officials in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Marine, on spending since 2020 outside of that allocated under Budgets 2022 and 2023 which may qualify for inclusion in the BAR claim.
This work is ongoing and the exact makeup of Ireland's BAR claim will not be decided until the claim is submitted in September 2024. It should be noted that in addition to the above, the Government also provided significant funding to prepare for Brexit prior to the BAR eligibility period.
