Vol. 412 No. 6
88 Mr. Kenneally asked the Minister for the Marine the reason a sea fishing boat licence was not granted to a person (details supplied) in County Waterford despite the fact that an offer was made on 10 June 1988; if he will outline the steps which now need to be taken in this particular case to secure the said licence; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I would refer the Deputy to my written reply to a question tabled by him on this matter on 2 July 1991. As I stated on that occasion, one of the conditions of the licence offer made on 10 June 1988 was that it would lapse if the applicants had not purchased a vessel within three calendar months of the date of the letter containing the offer. No application to extend this period was received nor is there any record of any further communication from the applicants until November 1989, by which time licensing policy generally had been revised. A letter setting out the position was sent to the applicants on 6 June 1990.
In view of the current European Community policy on fleet capacity, and the constraints imposed by that policy, sea fishing boat licences are only being considered in cases where applicants can demonstrate that they are in a position to remove 100 per cent replacement tonnage and horsepower from the current sea fishing boat register.
A new application for a sea fishing boat licence in respect of a specific boat was made by the applicants in November 1989. A further application, in respect of a different vessel, was made by one of the applicants in August 1991. Neither of these applications, however, included proposals for replacement tonnage and horsepower. Should the applicants now wish to proceed with either of the applications they should submit a replacement proposal in line with current policy as outlined above.
