Ireland’s Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with special responsibility for Fisheries, Timmy Dooley, has launched the Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAG) Coastal Communities Development Scheme 2025-2029.
The scheme will provide funding of €15 million over the coming years to community-led local fisheries and aquaculture development, with the priorities for funding set out in the Local Development Strategies prepared by each of the seven Fisheries Local Action Groups.
Protecting and supporting local, sustainable, small-scale fisheries and managing fish populations locally is key to the Blue Economy and the Sustainable Development Goals.
“This scheme is intended to enhance the economic opportunities and social sustainability of areas dependent on fishing and aquaculture,” said Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon. “Each FLAG has, through a process of public consultation, developed a Local Development Strategy, aimed at supporting job creation, adding value, promoting innovation as well as enhancing their local environment and promoting each area’s maritime cultural heritage.”
The scheme is implemented under Ireland’s Seafood Development Programme, which is jointly funded by the Irish government and the EU under the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF). It will build on the supports delivered under a similar scheme implemented previously, and also on the supports provided under the Brexit Blue Economy Enterprise Development Scheme, which provided over €13.2 million in funding to 369 beneficiaries operating in the blue economy within 10 kilometers of the coast over the course of 2022 and 2023.
“This scheme will build on the great work that has been done by the FLAG Boards, with the support of Bord Iascaigh Mhara, over the past 12 years,” said Minister Dooley. “It will continue to support investment in the economic, social, environmental and cultural fabric of our coastal communities. The government is committed to providing the necessary supports for a thriving and vibrant blue economy that will provide economic opportunities for the many families living in coastal communities, and I am delighted to launch this scheme today, which will contribute to that effort.”
