State aid to support FLAG coastal projects

State and EU grant aid of €1.2m has been awarded by six Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAGs)  to 93 local community groups and ‘micro enterprises’ under  the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Programme.

Announcing the package, which will be administered by BIM, marine minister Dara Calleary said the programme was “unique” in that representatives from the fishing communities themselves determined the successful applications:

This is vital so that “local funding gets to the many community development groups and events in our fishing communities”. Funding is also available for ‘micro enterprises’ involved in fisheries, aquaculture, marine tourism and marine leisure activities.

What unites these projects, “is their contribution to the economic and social development of traditional fishing communities, which is what the FLAG scheme is all about.”

The scheme, which begin in 2012, “is a testament not just to the demand for such local development funding, but very much the hard work of the local volunteers [who] make up the boards of each of our seven FLAGs,” Minister Calleary added.

Funding

FLAG	Number projects	Total Investment	Grant Awards
Northwest	15	€469,956	€229,332
South	11	€370,998	€200,465
Southeast	11	€395,837	€200,398
Southwest	14	€316,175	€158,424
West	6	€477,193	€237,641
North	36	€287,430	€203,777
TOTAL	93	€2,317,592	€1,230,040

FLAGs is a €12m coastal community development strategy (2014-2020) for seven designated coastal communities: South FLAG (Cork); South West (Kerry, Limerick); South East (Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow); West (Galway, Clare); Northwest (Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim); North (Donegal) and North East (Dublin, Louth, Meath).