Vol. 418 No. 1
108 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for the Marine if he will elaborate on the recent allocation of 5.4 million ECU for the modernisation of fishery monitoring facilities in Ireland; if he will give details of the way in which this expenditure is to be applied; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
This allocation was made by the EC Commission under Council Decision 89/631/EEC towards the upgrading of Ireland's sea fisheries surveillance capability. An earlier allocation of 5.77 MECU's was made to Ireland under that decision in 1991. It is anticipated that over the five year period covered by the decision — 1991 to 1995 — Community contributions towards the provision of fisheries surveillance equipment will amount to 50 per cent of an estimated expenditure of 44.5 MECU's.
This expenditure will be incurred in the provision of a range of surveillance related equipment for use by both my Department and the Department of Defence. The equipment being purchased includes two maritime patrol aircraft, communications and data handling systems, land vehicles, specialised photographic equipment, satellite monitoring equipment and computers and associated software.
