I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £18,712 chun slánuithe na suime is gá chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1942, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí i dtaobh Iascach Mara agus Intíre, ar a n-áirmhítear Ildeontaisí-i-gCabhair.
That a sum, not exceeding £18,712, be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending the 31st day of March, 1942, for Salaries and Expenses in connection with Sea and Inland Fisheries, including sundry Grants-in-Aid.
This Estimate, as printed, is virtually self-explanatory and, therefore, I do not propose to trouble the House with anything like a detailed survey of it. The following few items, however, seem fairly to call for some comments by me for the information of Deputies. Sub-head E (3): In this case the provision made last year for a contribution by us to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea has been replaced by a token item of £5; and the provision then made for the travelling expenses of our delegate to the council's meeting has also been replaced by a token item of £5. This body has its headquarters at Copenhagen, and it is hardly necessary to remark that we did not make any disbursement either by way of contribution or delegate's expenses in the past year, nor is it likely that we shall have occasion to do so for some time to come.
On sub-head E (5), as I explained here, some 12 months ago, when discussing the provision of £2,500 in the 1940-41 Estimate for special insurance for steam trawlers, the justification for such a disbursement from public funds was that the small group of steam trawlers owned and operated here are in a unique position with regard to insurance against special war risks, as they are neither eligible for the pool arrangement operated by Lloyd's in respect of vessels of the mercantile marine, nor were they deemed open to participation in a scheme of reinsurance set up by the British Government in connection with mutual insurance clubs dealing with steam trawlers registered across Channel. It would be impossible for these trawlers to get war risk insurance at all. At the same time I made it clear that payment of the war insurance premium for which provision was then being set down was entirely subject to the execution by the owners of a deed containing safeguards of a kind satisfactory to the Minister.
For example, I intended to have it clearly settled that if a vessel on which we were paying such premium happened to be lost by reason of the risks covered, the owners would not be entitled to retain the proceeds of the policy for their own purposes, but must replace the lost vessel by something like the equivalent in tonnage and fishing capacity. In other words, the object of the scheme was to secure the maintenance in being of a deep-sea trawling fleet. Owing to a number of circumstances with the particulars of which I need not trouble the Dáil, the owners have not yet been able to make compliance with our requirements by way of replacement in respect of one trawler lost by them and therefore no payment has been made from the provision set down in the Estimate last year. In like manner no payment will be made from the provision in the Estimate now under discussion until such time as our requirements have been fully met by the owners.
On sub-head F (1) it will be seen that the increase of £500 shown here, as compared with last year's figure, arises entirely from the heavier call which, in the light of the past few seasons' experience, we must expect to be made upon us by the Minister for Local Government, upon whose certificate there is automatically made a disbursement provided for at sub-division (4) of this sub-head. I have more than once explained to the House that when, by virtue of the Fisheries Act, 1925, the poor rate upon fishery assessments previously payable to the local councils became payable instead to the fishery conservators, there was a complementary provision inserted in that statute which, in effect, directed that if the loss of the rates formerly derived by the council from such assessments should result in the aggregate rate for the area served by the council being increased by a sum equivalent to more than the produce of one penny in the £ on the entire valuation, the excess over that figure must be made good from this Fisheries Vote. In other words the item under discussion merely provides for the carrying out of a statutory obligation.
We have provided for the requirements of the Sea Fisheries Association under the usual four sub-heads—G (1), G (2), G (3) and G (4). The first of these sub-heads stands at the same figure as it did last year; and the second sub-head has been reduced from £4,000 to £3,000, which amount the directors of the association agree will suffice for the relevant requirements. At sub-head G (3) there is being provided the same amount as was set down last year, and inasmuch as £15,000 was made available on the sub-head two years ago we shall in effect have provided in three years at least £35,000 for the supply of boats and gear. It may interest Deputies to know that the sums voted under this sub-head in the past eight or nine years are now beginning to show something like a fair return. I should like to give you some of the returns to the fishermen. The members had an income in 1940, from fish marketed by the association, of £43,500; the amount was £31,000 in 1939, and £17,000 in 1938.