Vol. 308 No. 8
asked the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry if he is completely satisfied that the establishment of foreign owned and controlled fish processing plants in this country are in the best interests of the country, particularly the Irish fishing industry; and if he will give details of the proposals by the Spanish fish processing concern Pescanova to set up a plant in Castletownbere, County Cork.
6.
asked the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry the steps his Department or BIM are taking to set up fish processing plants in this country; the assistance he is prepared to make available to private enterprise to engage in such activities; if he is aware of any proposals at present for such development by private enterprise; and, if so, if he will give details.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 and 6 together.
As the Deputy is aware the establishment or development of fish processing plants in any part of the State is a matter in the first instance for private enterprise which can be either Irish, foreign or a joint venture. Every encouragement and advice is given by my Department and An Bord Iascaigh Mhara to set up or extend fish processing plants and grants are available for acceptable projects from the Industrial Development Authority or Gaeltarra Éireann as appropriate.
We have at present 20 fish processing proposals on hands comprising expansion schemes by existing firms and the establishment of completely new projects including the Castletownbere project mentioned by the Deputy. The estimated total capital cost of these projects is £5.7 millions with a potential job figure of 610. The individual details of these proposals are confidential between the promoters and the State agencies involved.
The Deputy can rest assured that I would not recommend the payment of a State grant or otherwise encourage any project unless I was satisfied that it was in the national fisheries interest to do so.
In respect of Question No. 3, is the Minister completely satisfied that this is not a device, a backdoor method of gaining further access to Irish fishing waters by the fishing fleet referred to?
I am satisfied. This will be a very controlled and carefully monitored project if it gets under way. It will have the very positive effect of introducing new fishing grounds to Irish fishermen. For instance, there has been talk about 50-mile fishing, but Irish fishermen do not fish for hake between 50 and 100 miles. It would be to their advantage if they were encouraged, developed and guided towards such fishing grounds and this type of fishing by co-operating with Spanish fishing interests. That is what I have in mind.
There will not be anything left. The Minister is not giving them any incentive.
The Deputy is a very petty man.
In respect of the supplies of the raw material, fish, will it be supplied by the Spanish fleet only? How will the raw material be disposed of? Will it be on the Irish market or by way of export?
I am very glad the Deputy raised this point because this is one of the monitoring points. We will control the number of Spanish vessels with a view to such vessels operating as guides and trainers of Irish skippers to embark on similar type catching operations.
Pirates in disguise.
This is what the promoters have in mind. They are not interested in having personnel problems when dealing with Spanish fishermen off the south coast. They are more than emphatic on the training of Irish fishermen for this purpose. It is in their interests to do that. If the Deputy thinks about this he will appreciate it.
I asked about the disposal of the product. Will it be on the home market or by export?
There is no question of disposing of it on the home market. This is entirely an export-orientated operation.
To what controls is the Minister referring?
The controls I will order.
Will they include the placing of a fishery officer on each foreign vessel.
Yes. At local level we can do this. At the moment we are talking about only two or three Spanish boats. If we cannot do that we are not fit to be in an administration——
Fianna Fáil have not done it so far.
