The purchase of the two fisheries protection CASA aircraft was co-funded by the European Community under the Fisheries Surveillance Package 1995-2000. The two aircraft cost approximately £36 million, €45 million, in total, excluding VAT.
In implementing the terms of the fisheries surveillance package the Commission took the general position that where capital assets were overwhelmingly dedicated to fisheries protection the full eligible expenditure would receive Community support. It was on that basis that the Commission funded 50% of the cost of the CASA aircraft. The Commission has subsequently, in 2000, seen fit to agree further funding support of over €500,000 for navigation equipment upgrade and mission support facilities for the aircraft. It has been regularly confirmed by the Irish authorities to the Commission that the vast proportion of CASA time is demonstrably spent on fisheries protection. The fact that the aircraft are primarily tasked with fisheries protection has not precluded their deployment from time to time on search and rescue, air ambulance, security and transport duties.
The day-to-day operation of the CASA aircraft is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Defence. I have primary policy responsibility for fisheries protection and my relevant requirements relate to efficient and effective standards of fisheries protection service delivery by the Naval Service and the Air Corps. Service delivery is based on agreed outputs and in line with overall fisheries protection priorities agreed each year. The pertinent CASA outputs for my Department and for the Commission are the numbers of fisheries patrols, flying hours and vessel sightings. These outputs are reported on annually to the Commission by my Department. In 2001 the CASA aircraft undertook 277 patrols, involving 1,392 flying hours and recorded over 5,000 sightings of fishing vessels. These represent an increase over 2000 and are broadly in line with performance in previous years.
In line with the White Paper on Defence, my Department is currently working to formalise fisheries protection delivery requirements through service level agreements with the Department of Defence, the Naval Service and the Air Corps.