asked the Minister for Defence what plans are in his Department to acquire armed vessels to protect the country's fisheries.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Fishery Protection.
43.
No decision has been taken on the question of acquiring additional armed vessels for fishery protection.
I asked the Minister this question a year ago and a year before that when we had only one ship that could go to sea to defend our fisheries. Is the Minister aware that we have now a 12-mile fishery limit; that our great fisheries have been poached and plundered during the past herring season by a whole Continental armada and that there is only one Irish ship there to defend our fisheries? Would the Minister consider that it is up to him to buy some armed coasters?
Would you support the taxation?
The Deputy was told on the last occasion that it is not a question of ships. It is a matter of men. We are not getting the men because there are too many opportunities on land.
Is the Minister aware that an American coastal vessel was sent here from port to port by the Royal National Lifeboat Institute and this vessel was used for fishery protection on the American coast, the Pacific coast and in very high seas on the Atlantic coast of North America? Has the Minister or have the officials of his Department not seen this vessel?
I do not know whether the Deputy is asking me to hire one of these boats with its crew. I have not considered anything like that.
I do not want the Minister to hire anybody. Would the Minister not consider that he should purchase these coasters because their complement of men is only 12; he has a strength of 60 or 70 and he could have five or six added each year?
I should like to pay the Deputy the compliment of accepting him as an expert but I cannot do that. There are views on these technical matters other than those the Deputy is submitting.
I would remind the Minister that he bought three ships and lost £250,000. He was wrong and I right then.
Those ships were tied up at the South Wall and the Coalition would not give them even a coat of paint. I hope the Deputy is not disappointed that they did well when they left here.
(Interruptions.)
I call on the Minister for Agriculture—Question No. 44.