Vol. 451 No. 4
28 Dr. McDaid asked the Minister for the Marine if he will increase the funding to the National Fishery Training Centre in Greencastle, County Donegal, in order that navigation control course equipment and facilities will be provided. [6631/95]
33 Miss Coughlan asked the Minister for the Marine if he will seek EU funding for the upgrading of the National Fishery Training Centre in Greencastle, County Donegal. [6624/95]
91 Miss Coughlan asked the Minister for the Marine if funding will be made available in 1995 to provide navigational control equipment for the National Fishery Training Centre in Greencastle, County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6289/95]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 28, 33 and 91 together.
I am pleased to inform the Deputies that the necessary funding has now been made available for the installation of navigation control equipment at the national fishery training centre in Greencastle. Orders have been placed by BIM for the purchase and installation of the equipment and I understand that instruction in this module will begin at the centre shortly.
I have no doubt that Deputies will welcome this development which means that trainee deck officers can now complete all their instruction courses, including navigation command and control, at the Greencastle training centre. I can also advise that under the new EU Operational Programme for Fisheries, over £6 million will be invested in improved training programmes for the fisheries sector over the next five years.
This is welcome news. This equipment will be of great benefit to the Greencastle training centre which is unique in that it is the only one in the country which provides training courses in the use of radar in fish finding for skippers and deckhands. The Department of the Marine has one of the lowest spending budgets — in one year it was £46 million approximately which was a ridiculous sum given that this is considered to be a maritime nation. Funding is required for projects such as this. The Minister should impress on the Department of Finance — we will provide backing in this regard — the need to increase the Department's budget.
I thank the Deputy for his comments. I hope he made a similar effort to convince the previous Minister for Finance to increase the budget for the Department of the Marine which is underfunded given its potential. When it was established by Charles Haughey the concept was an excellent one but adequate funding was never provided. I hope I will be successful in securing extra funding.
I had an opportunity to visit the training centre at Greencastle recently and if I continue to have such spectacular successes I will be extremely busy. We are delighted the Minister has responded to our request. Given its significance nationally, in the context of cross-Border co-operation, what are the Minister's views on the question of combining European Union, American and Irish funding to allow it develop as an international centre?
I am anxious to visit the training centre at Greencastle and until I do I am not in a position to answer the Deputy's question. The Programme for Government refers to the establishment of a marine source centre while the previous Government proposed to establish a maritime college. A site was acquired for this purpose at Ringaskiddy, near the naval base. I am extremely conscious of the role played by and the achievements of the training centre at Greencastle. I have asked my programme manager and the assistant secretary at the Department to visit it. They were due to travel there tomorrow but the visit has been postponed for a week or so. The message should go out loud and clear that I have no plans to provide training courses anywhere else; if we develop new facilities this will not be at the expense of the training centre at Greencastle.
I encourage the Minister to move in that direction. The extent to which the problems along the Border and in the North affected economic development is not fully understood. The people in Innishowen, in particular, were adversely affected and any additional funding or upgrading of these facilities would be very welcome. I ask the Minister to continue along that line.
(Wexford): I welcome the news about Greencastle but has the Minister any plans to tie those in with the mobile training unit which travels around the country? Fishermen in small ports are particularly anxious that the unit be used more because it is more suitable to the smaller ports around our coasts.
I am conscious of the fact that in the case of our smaller ports it is difficult to acquire the resources necessary to go to Greencastle. I spoke to BIM about that and I was told that it is organising a number of regional courses using the mobile unit and local instructors. That needs to be developed because some of the small boats cannot afford to lose a single crew member — a big boat can sometimes manage in those circumstances. Problems do exist in that regard and we must enhance the role of training in regard to fishing. Given the part of the country the Deputy comes from, I understand what he is talking about.
