Decision would be made ‘in context of budget’
“We cannot allow matters to drift any longer than that,” said the minister, in a Seanad Éireann debate on agriculture and fisheries.
However, Environment Minister Phil Hogan said any funding decision would be made in the context of the overall budgetary situation later in the year.
And it is feared that the annual LEADER food hall exhibition by small food companies at the ploughing championships will be a victim of the halt to funding. This has been an important shop window for new grant-aided food artisans.
Funding from the EU’s €425m, seven-year LEADER rural development programme has enabled small companies to expand and grow, explore markets and undertake research and development. “The provision of this funding has proven to be quite successful,” said Mr Coveney.
Up to this year, food-based projects were supported specifically from Annexe 3 of Pillar 2 of Ireland’s CAP funding. The European Commission has ruled that this funding source is no longer possible.
Mr Coveney said: “We are trying to identify a way whereby we can switch from Annexe 3 to Annexe 1, in order to that we might be in a position to fund food projects. We are also seeking to discover which department would be the appropriate one to provide matching funding in order that we might draw down moneys under annexe 1. Traditionally, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government has always provided matching funding in respect of food projects.”
“I am only too conscious of how important this matter is for many small food companies which are only starting out and which would have anticipated, in their business plans, obtaining funding through local LEADER programmes. The companies are now discovering that such funding has stalled. ”
