asked the Minister for Fisheries if he is aware that the Hegarty Brothers, of Killybegs, who purchased the Steam Drifter "Laurel," costing £3,000, through the Department of Fisheries, paid deposits on that boat totalling £1,526, in spite of which the boat was taken from them by the Department because they failed to keep up the deposits owing to bad fishing seasons; further, whether the Minister would consider the handing over of one of the motor boats at present in possession of the Department to these men who are now unemployed and in dire need.
ORAL ANSWERS. - SEIZURE OF STEAM DRIFTER.
The steam drifter "Laurel" was purchased by the Hegarty Brothers in 1919, partly by a cash payment of £1,000 and partly by means of a loan of £2,000 obtained from the Congested Districts Board. Further loans were advanced by that Board between 1920 and 1923 amounting to £1,064. Of these loans £254 had been repaid when this Department took over the collection. The amount repaid to my Department between 1923 and 1925 was £116. My Department was constrained to resume possession of the "Laurel" in 1925 because the owners were unable to work the boat, which was in consequence deteriorating rapidly.
I am prepared to consider sympathetically any application the Hegarty Brothers wish to make for employment on the Department's fishing fleet.
Would the Minister consider the question of giving them one of the motor fishing boats in the hands of the Department?
The system by which these boats are being worked is not by handing them over to any party or crew. They are retained under the management of the Department. The history of the Hegartys is a very good one, and their inability to pay was caused entirely by reasons beyond their own control. Any application for them for employment is one that will be very favourably considered by the Department.