348. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the way in which Agricultural Reserve allocation was distributed for each of the years 2023, 2024 and 2025, by each sector that benefited, the amount allocated and the basis upon which sectors were selected; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52414/26]

350. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to identify each occasion since 2014 on which Ireland has sought, received or considered seeking Agricultural Reserve or equivalent exceptional market support from the European Commission following adverse weather events; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52416/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 348 and 350 together.

There have been two separate systems for the allocation of funding from the Agricultural Reserve in the period specified in the questions.

Prior to 2023, when financing from the reserve was required, it needed Council and Parliament decision, and implied financing from reductions in CAP direct payments (financial discipline). While exceptional aid had been allocated on several occasions across the EU in this period, the Agricultural Reserve had never been used as the source of this funding until March 2022, when some €350m of the €500m used to provide supports to producers affected by the war in Ukraine was drawn from the 2022 reserve.

The Common Market Organisation for Animal Products (CMO) Regulation forms part of the CAP 2023-2027 legislative framework and covers all the products listed in Annex I to the TFEU, with the exception of fishery and aquaculture products. The CMO Regulation lays down provisions in a number of areas including making provision for exceptional measures.

These exceptional measures are set out as follows:

1. Measures against market disturbance.

2. Measures concerning animal diseases and loss of consumer confidence due to public, animal or plant health risks.

3. Measures to resolve specific problems.

These make provision for the Commission to adopt implementing acts in certain circumstances taking emergency measures to address the market disturbance or resolve specific problems.

Ireland has received Agricultural Reserve Funding in the periods specified, namely;

Due to challenges experienced by the tillage sector in 2023 (particularly due to weather but also rising costs post Covid-19 and Ukraine war), €7.148 million was allocated from the EU Agricultural Reserve (Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1465). This was topped up with €7.147m of exchequer money for a targeted scheme to compensate growers for unharvested crops in 2023 with the remaining available funds distributed to the tillage sector by way of a one-off flat rate payment per hectare on the area of oilseed rape, winter and spring barley, wheat and rye declared under the Basic Income Support for Sustainability Scheme (BISS) in 2023.

Under the same implementing regulation, the Horticulture Crisis Fund provided support of €2.38 million to the sector in 2024 as an emergency support for specific problems impacting the economic viability of horticulture growers.

In addition, Ireland received exceptional aid in 2019 for the Beef and Veal sector (Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1132) amounting to over €49m following Brexit. It should be noted however that this was not drawn from the Agricultural Reserve, nor was it allocated due to severe weather events.