asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the extent to which Irish sea fishing has been curtailed as a result of the oil shortage.
Ceisteanna—Questions. - Irish Sea Fishing.
45.
I am satisfied that the curtailment of Irish sea fishing as a result of the oil shortage has been negligible.
This is the herring fishing season at Dunmore East. Suppliers of oil to the fishing vessels there have been informed that their quota for December is cut by 10 per cent. Could anything be done in this case?
I do not think the Deputy's statement is correct.
On Tuesday of this week before I left to come to Dublin I was so informed by the supplier himself.
BIM say they are not aware of any significant curtailment of fishing activities due to oil shortage. A special department has been set up by the board to deal with complaints. All fishermen's associations and co-operatives have been advised to this effect. BIM have this special department. Complaints were received from a small number of fishermen's associations last week by BIM and the Department. They referred to Cahirciveen and Galway and not to Waterford. The complaints were referred to the oil companies. It is understood that any temporary disruption which fishermen had experienced was rectified. The Deputy can be assured that the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries are watchful of this question and are taking the necessary steps to ensure that there will be no disruption.
The man I was speaking to operates the co-operative at Dunmore East. He is a private supplier.
If the Deputy has complaints perhaps he will send them to me.
I did not catch everything the Parliamentary Secretary was saying. Is he indicating to the House that special arrangements are to be made to ensure an adequate supply of fuel to the owners of fishing trawlers? Are special arrangements being made to ensure this?
I am indicating that BIM are setting up a special department and I myself and my Department are watching the position carefully. If any fisherman has difficulty and lets us know about it, we will do our best. I can only speak for fisheries. I cannot speak for the Minister for Transport and Power. We are getting complete co-operation from his Department whenever it is necessary to make representations. Deputy Molloy need not be worried. The position is being watched carefully.
Is the report which I saw in the newspapers to the effect that the entire fleet in Burtonport was tied up for one or two days incorrect?
My information is that that would be incorrect. We had a report from Burtonport and it was referred to the oil company in question.
The Parliamentary Secretary must be aware that the largest fishing port in Ireland, Killybegs, is gravely disrupted? The fishermen there are perturbed by the lack of any arrangement to give them an assurance of supply?
This must be quite recent. BIM are carrying out a port-to-port survey on the entire fishing fleet. No complaints were received from fishermen with regard to the current supplies. We have not received complaints from any Deputies who have put down questions here or asked supplementary questions. If they let us know about the complaints we will do our best.
There is some concern also in Castletownbere, Cahirciveen and Dingle.
We had a report from Cahirciveen. We had a few complaints. They were from Burtonport, Cahirciveen and Galway. BIM are doing a port-to-port survey.
Individual Deputies seem to have discovered a lot of complaints which the Parliamentary Secretary owned up to after being questioned about them.