Vol. 441 No. 2
67 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for the Marine the reason the fishing industry was not mentioned in the 1994 Budget Statement in view of the serious difficulties being experienced by the fishing fleet and the possibility of large scale job losses.
As the Deputy is aware, the Financial Statement of the Minister for Finance is but one element in the Government's presentation of its annual expenditure and taxation plans.
The primary publications setting out expenditure are the Estimates for Public Services and the Public Capital Programme. For 1994 these provide for substantial increases in the marine allocation and particularly in the provisions for the fishing sector.
It is not normal that there would be references in the Financial Statement to each individual sector of the economy. On this occasion I should mention that at the time the budget was being finalised no submissions had been received from the fishing industry seeking any particular concessions.
The fact that no provision is included in the Estimates or the budget does not of course preclude the Government dealing with any new needs of a pressing nature which may arise. In this regard, measures are, for example, being adopted to deal with the difficulties arising in the fishing sector from exceptional bad weather conditions over recent months.
