Vol. 441 No. 6
116 Mr. E. Kenny asked the Minister for the Marine whether financial aid will be paid in respect of fishermen off the north Mayo coast who have suffered setbacks due to the adverse weather conditions; if he has received proposals from fishermen for such assistance; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
118 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for the Marine if he will ensure in the allocation of the £5 million aid for fishermen due to poor weather conditions over recent months that there will be a fair distribution of the resources between the east coast and the west coast; if he will ensure that in assessing individual allocations of aid that not only fish returns and log sheets will be taken into account but also the financial circumstances of all applicants; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 116 and 118 together.
As the Deputies will be aware, I formally announced on Monday last that agreement had been reached with the Minister for Finance on the details of the Government's emergency aid scheme for the fishing industry.
The scheme for which an amount of up to £5 million has been earmarked is intended to alleviate the exceptional and unique difficulties that had been experienced by the catching sector over recent months arising from the prolonged spell of bad weather during that period. In particular, it will focus on relieving the hardship suffered by crews of boats that were restricted from undertaking normal winter fishing activity because of the extreme weather. In determining hardship, the scheme will also take account, as appropriate, of the loan servicing difficulties of boats that had been inactive due to the weather. In addition, limited assistance will be made available to shellfish fishermen towards the replacement of gear lost or damaged.
The scheme will be administered by BIM and payments will be determined by the particular circumstances of each case and total demands under the scheme. Payments to crews will be based broadly on the rate of support available under social welfare unemployment schemes. Aid towards the servicing of loans will be considered where serious difficulties exist arising from a fall in landings due to the exceptional bad weather and will be limited to a proportion of the interest overdue.
It is important to stress that fishermen operating from all areas of our coastline will be entitled to assistance under the scheme subject to the criteria that I have outlined.
