Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 September 2023
460. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department has given any consideration in communication with Bord Iascaigh Mhara to opening a processing plant for the Irish inshore shellfish fisheries industry, and namely, the cockle industry, following market and regulatory disruption due to Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41519/23]
View answerIn 2022, I announced the Brexit Processing Capital Support Scheme, which provided for €45 million in funding for capital investment projects in seafood processing enterprises. The scheme was introduced to provide an opportunity for processors to expand and enhance the capacity, efficiency and value added focus of their facilities in order to attract new sources of raw material.
Funding was provided under the Brexit Adjustment Reserve and based on a recommendation of the Seafood Taskforce. I established the Taskforce to assess the impacts of Brexit and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement on the fishing sector and coastal communities. The Taskforce recommended that the sector be provided with a stimulus to drive transformational change and thereby overcome constraints arising from Brexit and incentivise change through the provision of graduated grant aid rates for capital investment projects in the industry.
In line with this Taskforce recommendation, the above scheme was designed to provide greater levels of funding to those capital investment projects that resulted in higher value-added activities and, in particular, to assist those seafood processors seeking to move away from commodity production to the production of higher value-added products and help those seeking to diversify their product offering and enter new markets. Funding has also been made available for seafood processors seeking to improve environmental performance and those aiming to achieve greater production efficiencies.
Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), which has been administering this scheme, has advised my Department that it is not aware of interest having been expressed from entities to access such funding in respect of cockle processing facilities.
