The government has been urged to seek an extension to the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) deadline and to ensure greater flexibility for farmers to get their “fair share” of the fund.
Returning unused BAR funding to the EU after the deadline at the end of the year would be a “huge failure”, the president of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), Tim Cullinan said.
The EU’s €5.47 billion BAR fund provides support to counter the adverse economic, social, territorial, and environmental consequences of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU.
Ireland’s BAR fund allocation
Ireland, as the country most affected by Brexit, was awarded the largest share of the entire fund. The four-year BAR eligibility period for funding ends on December 31, 2023.
In order to secure BAR funding, Ireland will have to prepare a detailed claim by September 2024, setting out the projects undertaken and how they have mitigated the impact of Brexit.
Although initially allocated €1.165 billion, Ireland transferred a total of €150 million from BAR to REPowerEU, which is the EU’s plan to rapidly reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels.
Thus, Ireland’s BAR allocation is €1.015 billion, which now represents approximately 30% of the overall BAR fund, following transfers by other member states to REPowerEU.
The exact composition of Ireland’s BAR claim will not be finalised until the claim is submitted in September 2024, the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform said.
“As work is ongoing, it is not possible at this time to confirm the final amounts of expenditure in any sector that will be included in the BAR claim,” the department confirmed to Agriland.
BAR spending by DAFM
As part of Budget 2022 and Budget 2023, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) received the largest allocation of the BAR fund at over €270 million.
The vast majority of this allocation went to the fisheries sector. However, the horticulture sector, organics, as well as meat and dairy processing also received funding.
The IFA recently met with Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath, and Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, Paschal Donohoe to outline its priorities for Budget 2024.
Cullinan said the association made it “very clear” that it would represent a “huge failure” for BAR funds to be returned when farmers across all sectors “need support”.
“To date, we estimate only 5% of Ireland’s BAR funding has been allocated to farmers. We need more flexibility, time and targetted on-farm interventions,” the IFA president said.
“Brexit has already hit farmers hard, and there is more to come as the UK expands its trade negotiations.
“The tripling of Australian lamb exports and the fourfold increase in Australian beef exports to the UK market in August shows the risk to our exports.
“Our analysis shows that €300 million of Irish beef and €75 million of Irish lamb could be displaced in 2024 from the UK market due to these new trade deals.
“Minister [for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie] McConalogue and his officials can’t use the lack of budget as an excuse this year for not delivering, when they could potentially be sending millions of unused BAR funding back to the EU,” he added.