McHugh welcomes €1.2M Government funding to Foyle Fishermen’s Co-operative

Joe McHugh,Fine Gael deputy for Donegal at Leinster House.

DONEGAL TD JOE McHugh has today (Wednesday) welcomed funding of more than €1.2M to the Foyle Fishermen’s Co-operative.

Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, Michael Creed confirmed the award of a further €3,100,055 in grants to 13 seafood enterprises in seven different counties under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) Operational Programme for the seafood sector.

Minister McHugh said: “Three of the projects are in Donegal with the Greencastle-based organisation receiving the largest allocation of €1,284,045 as part of a €2.1M overall investment. This is important for the further development of Greencastle and will help support the sustainability of the work of the Foyle Fishermen’s Co-operative.

“I want to thank Minister Creed and Department officials for their work on this programme and I know from talking with all of them the incredible goodwill towards the co-op. More than a third of today’s announcement is being allocated to Donegal.

Sliogéisc Inisheane Teo, Donegal, is receiving a grant of €22,071 under the sustainable aquaculure scheme while Atlanfish Ltd in Carndonagh is receiving €5,325 as part of a €17k capital investment.

The grant awards are supporting both capital and innovation projects in seafood processing and aquaculture and for the first time we are supporting 4 capital projects specifically aimed at handling and storing fish landed under the CFP landing obligation.

These specific projects are the first of their type to be approved under the EMFF Sustainable Fisheries Scheme, which aims to support fishermen, co-operatives and processors to implement the landing obligation.

The grant awards will support total investment of €6.9 million in 2017. The grants are awarded under 5 EMFF schemes and are co-funded by the Exchequer and EU and subject to terms and conditions..

Minister Creed said: “This funding will assist 4 key players in the sector in providing infrastructure for the handling and cold storage of unwanted catches. By having such facilities in place, these parties will have more options for disposing of such unwanted catches, including sale to the high end pet food market, as bait for shellfish fishermen or in the longer term for the production of health care or pharmaceutical products.

“The projects are innovative in their approach and demonstrate foresight on the part of these businesses in planning ahead to address the challenges of the landing obligation”.

These grant awards contribute to the Action Plan for Rural Development.

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