Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 17 Feb 1993

Vol. 426 No. 2

Adjournment Debate. - Marine and Agriculture, Food and Forestry Matters.

Mr. McGinley

I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for allowing me to raise this important matter and the Minister of State for attending.

It is almost 13 years since the former Taoiseach, Deputy Haughey, promised the immediate development of Burtonport harbour in two stages: first, dredging and, second, an extension to the pier. Burtonport is one of the most important fishing ports in Donegal, it is second only to Killybegs. Its further development is being seriously hampered due to the failure of the Government to allocate funds for the planned improvements. Not alone is Burtonport harbour extensively used by fishermen but it also facilitates the Aranmore ferry, the Kilbrannan.

It is the declared aim of the Minister and the Government to develop the fishing industry and create badly needed employment along our coasts. The Minister is on a familiarisation tour of the nation's fishing ports at present. He has already visited Killybegs and I strongly advise him to visit Burtonport as soon as possible to witness the utter congestion that prevails there. Failing such a visit by the Minister we would appreciate a visit from the Minister of State.

New fishing licences were allocated by the Minister's predecessor more than a year ago. A new boat purchased in Scotland has now been added to our fishing fleet. The owners of the boat are from the Gaeltacht but, unfortunately, they cannot be accommodated in Burtonport and have to go further afield. The situation is becoming more serious with every passing season.

I note in the Book of Estimates that the budget for fishery harbour development has been increased from £3 million last year to £3.5 million for 1993, a small but welcome increase. I appeal to the Minister, and the Minister of State, to make an allocation to Burtonport out of this year's funds so that the dredging of the harbour can commence without further delay.

Minister of State at the Department of the Marine (Mr. G. O'Sullivan)

I am glad to inform the Deputy that major dredging will be undertaken this year at Burtonport harbour. As the Deputy will be aware, provision was made under the Department of the Marine's Fishery Harbour Development Programme, 1989 to 1993, for such dredging at Burtonport harbour. This was confirmed last October by the then Minister of State, Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher. This work, when completed, will allow Burtonport to handle larger vessels, which are increasingly becoming a feature of the fleet. The project will attract 75 per cent grant aid from the Department of the Marine and Donegal County Council will be required to contribute the balance.

The Department of the Marine in progressing this project has, to date, undertaken a hydrographic survey to determine the bed level and a probing survey to establish the extent of rock present. A site investigation was undertaken last summer and the results of this investigation have been evaluated and will be used in drawing-up the detailed plans for the dredging.

This project, which is much needed and crucial to improving the facilities for fishermen at Burtonport, has been included in the Department of the Marine's 1993 programme of work for fishery harbours. The dredging project, which will be undertaken this year, during the summer months, will mean that bigger vessels and more fishermen will be able to land their catch at Burtonport. The project will be of benefit to the local fishing industry and, by extension, the local economy and will help ensure a viable future for the harbour.

As regards the further development of Burtonport harbour, the Deputy may be aware that a new fishery harbour development programme for the period 1994-97 is currently being prepared. Donegal County Council has submitted development proposals to the Department of the Marine for inclusion in this new programme. Burtonport harbour was among the harbours proposed for development by the county council. Full consideration will be given to the further development of this harbour in the context of the new programme. However, until the total programme and its financing has been fully settled, I am not in a position to say what development works can be undertaken at Burtonport harbour, or any other harbour, during the 1994-97 period. I will take up the Deputy's invitation to visit Burtonport.

Mr. McGinley

The Minister will be welcome.

Mr. Sheehan

The Minister is putting the matter on the back burner.

Mr. Deasy

Last September a Dunmore East trawler, the Orchidee, was involved in an incident with a very large French trawler in the fishing ground between the Welsh and south eastern Irish coast known as the Smalls, a fishing ground well known for prawns. As a result of the incident two young fishermen from Dunmore East died. The third crewman survived. No report on the incident has been issued. I should like the Minister to tell me when we can expect the report and what authorities are involved in compiling it. The incident occurred in international waters which are probably closer to the Welsh and British coast than the Irish coast. I should like to know if all three countries — Ireland, Britain and France — are involved in drawing up the report or if it is the responsibility of the Irish Department of the Marine or the Department of the Marine in France.

The families of the two young Irish fishermen are disturbed because they do not know what is happening and they have not been kept informed by the Department of the Marine. In view of the frequency of such accidents off our coast I suggest that the Department should appoint a liaison officer to communicate with families in circumstances such as this. This is the second incident involving a Dunmore East trawler in the past two years. In August 1991 a boat called the Stelimar was burned off Howth in the Irish Sea and another crewman from Dunmore East died. His family has not as yet had any report on the accident. It is poor form that a Government Department cannot inform the family concerned about what is going on, what happened and what action will be taken as a result of the incident in question.

Mr. G. O'Sullivan

A collision between the Irish registered trawler Orchidee and the French trawler Agena occurred on 22 September 1992, 50 miles off Dunmore East in international waters. The Orchidee had three crew members on board. One crew member was rescued by the French trawler, the two other crew members lost their lives.

A marine surveyor of the Department was appointed under section 728 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, to report on the accident. The purpose of the investigation is to determine the cause of the accident and to recommend measures to prevent a recurrence. The marine surveyor has interviewed the sole survivor from the Orchidee, he has not as yet been able to interview the French crew, nor, as a result, complete his investigation. The reasons for this delay are as follows.

The French maritime authorities are proceeding with a judicial inquiry into the accident. The head of maritime affairs in Auray, France has been judicially empowered to carry out the inquiry. He has advised that he will be forwarding questions relating to the accident to the Irish authorities through the diplomatic channels. Under this procedure the Irish authorities may at the same time and in the same manner address questions to the French authorities. A comprehensive list of questions relating to the accident has been prepared by my marine surveyor and transmission through the French Embassy to the French authorities.

Pending receipt of questions from the French authorities and the hearing of the case, my Department's marine surveyor will not be given access to the French crew for questioning or obtain any other information from French sources.

The judicial nature of the French inquiry will result, therefore, in some delay in the completion of the Irish investigation. A report of the incident will, subject to legal considerations, be published as soon as possible thereafter. I wish to tell Deputy Deasy that I will consider the appointment of a liaison officer from the Department to consult with the families of the victims of this accident and any other accidents which may occur in the future.

Mr. Nealon

As Deputies know, there were virtually continuous storms during an extended period in January. These storms were particularly bad in the north west, and the direction of the gale force winds, combined with seas as rough as anyone in that area can remember, resulted in major damage along the coast. Some areas which were previously thought to be sheltered and totally safe from such storms were affected on this occasion. The storms left a trail of destruction along the west Sligo coast from Portavade, to Derk, Dromore West, Carronrush, Easky, Pullaheeney, Lacken and Inniscrone. Considerable damage was caused to the coastal protection walls which remained after the storms of the eighties. Some fishermen suffered very big losses to equipment — one fisherman lost more than 200 lobster pots — and some roads were ruined.

I wish to refer tonight to the damage caused to farms and the losses now being suffered by farmers who live beside the coast. The main damage has been caused by stones and debris of all sorts which has been carried by the sea into the fields along the coast - there are tonnes of stones and debris in fields in these vulnerable areas. I recently inspected the damage, together with two local councillors, Paul Conmy and Mary Barrett, who know the area well. It is difficult for anyone who lives inland to fully realise the destruction a storm driven sea can cause, especially when the pounding continues, as it did in January, for days or weeks.

When a somewhat similar problem arose as a result of storms during the mid-eighties, the then Minister for Agriculture, Deputy Deasy, adopted a very sympathetic approach and many of the farmers received grant-aid through, I think, the dry land reclamation scheme which enabled them to bring their fields, or what remained of them, back to productivity. I know that the present Minister will be equally helpful in finding a suitable scheme through which farmers, who have to deal with this new problem in addition to the existing problems they share with all small farmers in the west, can be grant-aided.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. J. Walsh)

A I indicated in my reply to a parliamentary question from the Deputy on 10 February 1993, I am aware that some damage was caused to farm land in west Sligo by the movement of debris from the foreshore during the January storms. I am also aware that removal of debris from the area was funded under the programme for western development in the mid eighties but this programme ended in 1990. At present, there are no funds available to my Department which could be used for such cases.

It would appear that recurrence of the type of damage referred to by the Deputy might be averted by coastal protection measures. I will bring the matter to the notice of my colleagues, the Ministers for the Environment and Defence and Marine, who have responsibility for coastal protection.

Mr. Sheehan

I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for giving me the opportunity to raise a very important matter tonight. Applications for Land Registry maps have not been dealt with for the past six months due to the fact that the Records Survey Branch of the Land Commission was transferred from 23 Upper Merrion Street, Dublin, to the National Archives, Bishop Street, Dublin, on 17 August, 1992. There is a huge backlog of applications waiting to be dealt with by the Minister's Department and transfers and sales of property have been seriously hampered by the ridiculous closure of the Records Survey Branch to the general public for such a lengthy period.

I wish to remind the Minister of a photostat message sent by his Department to the people concerned which stated: "The Records Survey Branch of the Land Commission will be transferred from the rear of 23 Upper Merrion Street, Dublin 2, to the National Archives, Bishop Street, Dublin 8. In order to facilitate the move, the public office of the Records Survey Branch will be closed for approximately three months from Monday, 17 August 1992, and any inconvenience caused is regretted". This delay is completely inexcusable. I know it is not the fault of the Minister — the general election disrupted his activities in the Department — who is a man of action. I ask him to ensure that this office is opened tomorrow morning so that the backlog of applications can be dealt with within two months if possible.

Mr. J. Walsh

I am glad Deputy Sheehan has brought this matter to my attention. Because he has raised the matter I will make an additional effort to ensure that it is resolved satisfactorily.

Following the sale of the Land Commission building, all Land Commission records had to be moved to new premises in Bishop Street. This was a major undertaking as it is estimated that there were in the region of eight-nine million documents in storage relating to land transactions since 1881. Clearly such a treasury of records has great archival and historical significance and each one had to be individually catalogued and moved in sequence. In addition, custom built storage units had to be provided in a controlled temperature environment. It was necessary to close down the records branch from 17 August 1992 to effect this move and notices were inserted in the national press to this effect.

All documents were in situ by mid-November of last year and the records branch was open to the public shortly after that date. Requests for documents have been processed normally. There has been some delay in issuing Land Commission maps as they were still in storage pending the installation of specialised mapping cabinets. However, within the past few days some of the mapping cabinets and maps have been transferred to Bishop Street and it is anticipated that the remainder will be in situ within a week or so at the latest. It will then be a matter for Land Registry staff to process requests for maps as normal.

I will take-up this matter personally in deference to my colleague, Deputy Sheehan, who raised it in the House.

Mr. Hogan

I regret that I must disagree with my colleague, Deputy Sheehan, when he describes the Minister as a man of action. The issue I wish to raise tonight — the appeals system for disadvantaged areas — clearly shows the greatest level of inactivity on any issue I have ever seen in my political history.

An appeals body was established in June 1991 to give farmers the opportunity to make a case for inclusion in the disadvantaged areas scheme if they met the necessary criteria. The deadline for submission of applications was 26 July 1991. There was a great response to the scheme — 1,539 groups, encompassing 40,000 farmers and 3.25 million acres, applied for inclusion in the scheme. The deadline for applications for reclassification of areas to a higher status was 6 December 1991. Various Department officials called to farmers after that date to establish the stocking rate, the amount of feed bought in and so on, as part of a wide-ranging survey of the area under appeal. The survey commenced in December 1991 and every farmer involved was visited by April 1992. However, practically no progress has been made since then. Only two people in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry were assigned to assess the survey data at that time. An additional four people were assigned to that task in the run up to the general election.

It is disgraceful that the Minister is adopting such a casual approach to the issue of the appeals system. Farm viability can often be determined by the fact that an applicant is successful. In addition, the appeals system has not been given enough attention by the farm organisations who have failed, through the Programme for Economic and Social Progress and the central review mechanism, to give this matter the necessary impetus. Fianna Fáil has played politics for far too long with the issue of disadvantaged areas. Perhaps it is afraid to make the necessary decisions too quickly in case it upsets some of its supporters. As long as Fianna Fáil continues to adopt this wait and see approach farm families will continue to be deprived of essential income. I call on the Minister tonight to clearly indicate when the appeals data will be processed and presented to Brussels, when the successful applicants will be notified and if they can expect to qualify for the increased aid in 1993.

Mr. J. Walsh

I wish to say at the outset that there has been a number of reviews of the disadvantaged areas scheme over the past ten or 12 years. To the best of my knowledge, the reviews, including the reviews of the areas I represent, together with Deputy Sheehan and Deputy Jim O'Keeffe, were carried out on the basis of spot checks of individual farms in different townlands. The outcome of all reviews under different Governments was unsatisfactory, to say the very least. It was decided on this occasion that the job should be carried out in a proper and comprehensive manner. As Deputy Hogan said, a comprehensive survey was carried out. An appeals tribunal was established under the chairmanship of Professor Seamus Sheehy. This tribunal consists of members of the farming organisations who ensure that there is objectivity in the matter. There are also two Land Commission officials on the tribunal. The tribunal is actively engaged in the enormous and complex task of analysing the data from the survey of 10,000 townlands. When one considers that there are three or four farms in each townland this gives an idea of the task facing them. Farmers in 10,000 townlands appealed their non-inclusion in the disadvantaged areas scheme. That gives some idea of the level of dissatisfaction with the previous efforts in this regard.

This analysis involves the detailed examination of the data in respect of each townland in order to maximise the area which qualifies under the required criteria. That is the objective of the people on that panel, they have to try to ensure that the maximum number of families, farms and townlands are included under the disadvantaged areas scheme. As Deputy Hogan said, it is very much to the advantage of Ireland as a member state to have the maximum number of areas qualifying under this scheme. Because of its size and complexity, it is not easy to predict when the task will be completed. While it is in everybody's interest to have the job done quickly, it is equally important that the panel should carry out a through analysis as a prerequisite to having acceptable recommendations for submission to the Commission in Brussels for ratification. Once the submission is ratified there will be no delay in making payments to farmers in successful areas.

Mr. Hogan

When will that be done?

The Dáil adjourned at 9.45 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 18 February 1993.