Fish farmers have warned that the National Development Plan (NDP) is "way behind target", following the release of EU/State grants this week to aquaculture projects.
Grants of almost €3 million were approved earlier this week by the Minister of State for the Marine, Mr John Browne. However, Mr Richie Flynn, of the Irish Farmers' Association's fish farming division, said that while the money was welcome, it was coming "eight months late".
Mr Flynn said that the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, and the Minister for the Marine, Mr Ahern, were trying to put fish farmers out of business by a "penny-pinching, mandarin-like attitude".
Some 87.5 per cent of the finance was EU money, which should have been spent last year, he said. A spokesman for the Minister for the Marine rejected the claim, and said the funding showed clearly the Government's commitment to the sector.
The grant aid announced this week was part of the investment support package of €31.74 million for Irish aquaculture in both Objective One regions under the NDP. In the Border Midlands West region, 12 commercial projects received combined EU and Exchequer funding of €2,528,727. The projects included eight shellfish farms and four fin-fish farms in Donegal, Galway, Louth and Mayo.
In the South and Eastern region, three commercial projects, comprising one freshwater finfish project and two shellfish projects in Cork and Waterford, received combined EU and Exchequer funding totalling €204, 947.
Mr Flynn said that fish farmers had paid out "six-figure sums" on interest for bridging loans, which were taken out on the strength of promised aid. "What kind of rural and coastal development policy allows long-established companies to be forced to the edge by some mandarin-like attitude to EU money?"
There was an overwhelming global demand for seafood so support for aquaculture represented a sound investment, he said. Mr Flynn called for an "urgent meeting" between Mr Ahern and Mr McCreevy to plan for the next tranche of funds under the NDP.