Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 June 2023
257. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the amount of Brexit adjustment fund, BAR, funding he plans to allocate to his Department in budget 2024 and specifically for marine related measures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31318/23]
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. Initially €5.47 billion was allocated to the reserve while Ireland’s initial allocation was €1.165 billion. Following agreement with the EU Commission to transfer €150 million to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, Ireland’s allocation from the reserve is €1.015 billion or approximately 30 per cent of the overall BAR fund, following transfers by other Member States to their National Recovery and Resilience Plans.
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 reserve alleviate the adverse consequences. To be eligible for funding, expenditure must fall within the BAR reference period for eligibility which runs from 1st January 2020 to 31st December 2023. Since the BAR Regulation came into force in October 2021, the Government has allocated BAR funding of €389 million in Budget 2022 and Budget 2023 across a range of sectors to mitigate the impact of Brexit. This is set out in the table below. As the BAR eligibility period for expenditure ends on the 31st December 2023, no BAR funding will be allocated in Budget 2024 for 2024.
|
Department |
€m |
|
Agriculture |
271 |
|
Enterprise |
15 |
|
Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science |
37.3 |
|
Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform |
4.4 |
|
Foreign Affairs |
2.2 |
|
Tourism Culture Arts Gaeltacht Sports and Media |
7.75 |
|
Environment Climate and Communications |
24 |
|
Health |
5.5 |
|
Justice |
21.5 |
|
Transport |
0.1 |
|
Total |
389 |
Reflecting the potentially heterogenous impact of Brexit across Member States, under the BAR Member States were given sufficient flexibility to design measures and allocate expenditure most appropriate to their own situation. The exception to this was in respect of fisheries where a minimum amount of expenditure was ringfenced to support the sector. €55.6 million was to be allocated to fisheries from Ireland's overall BAR allocation initially. Following the agreement to transfer €150 million to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the minimum amount to be allocated for fisheries and marine is now €48.5 million.
To date, my Department has provided sanction to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for approximately €287 million of BAR expenditure to support the Fisheries and Marine sector in response to the adverse impact of Brexit. This exceeds the minimum amount required by the EU. The relevant fishing and marine measures sanctioned by my Department to date 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.
In addition to the allocations made in Budget 2022 and Budget 2023, my Department has been engaging with other Departments to identify and review other Brexit-related spending outside of that allocated under Budget 2022 and 2023, which may qualify for inclusion including in the area of fisheries and the marine. Work is ongoing to verify this Brexit-related funding allocated across 2020 to 2023 for inclusion in Ireland’s final BAR claim to be submitted in September 2024.
