Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 October 2024
238. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount of funding announced (in the context of Budget 2025) for the seafood processing capital investment scheme for 2025; the budget allocation for the seafood processing capital investment scheme for 2025 from the national Exchequer; and theamount of the funding that will be from European Union funding sources. [40671/24]
View answerFunding for the Seafood Processing Capital Investment Scheme is provided under the Seafood Development Programme (SDP).
The budget allocation for capital investments to be implemented by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) in 2025 is €18,660,000. This allocation will support a number of SDP capital investment schemes including the Small-scale Coastal Fisheries Scheme, the Sustainable Fisheries Scheme, the Sustainable Aquaculture Scheme in addition to the Seafood Processing Capital Investment Scheme. The precise budget allocation for each of these individual schemes in 2025 is not yet finalised.
The SDP is co-funded by the Irish Government and the EU Commission under the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) 2021-2027. In Ireland, the initial funding is provided by the exchequer via the annual budgetary process, and my Department, as the Managing Authority for EMFAF in Ireland, then applies for reimbursement of the co-funded portion of the expenditure from the Commission. In the case of the Seafood Processing Capital Investment Scheme the portion of eligible expenditure that may be claimed from the Commission is 54.97989332%.
