Vol. 477 No. 1
243 Mr. Browne (Wexford) asked the Minister for the Marine the reason his Department has not issued approval to a person (details supplied) in County Wexford for the sale of registered tonnage due to the disposal of a fishery vessel in spite of the fact that Deputy John Browne was advised further to his reply to Parliamentary Question No. 138 of 11 December 1996 that a decision on the matter would be conveyed shortly; and the reason for the continued delay. [8473/97]
The request to which the Deputy refers is still under consideration in the context of current developments in relation to fleet policy under the general framework of the European Union multi-annual guidance programmes, MGP for the fishing fleet.
The particular circumstances of the case require that it be considered in the light of overall fleet policy objectives and constraints. The forthcoming Fisheries Council on 14 April may clarify the position in relation to MGP III and MGP IV and following the Council I would hope to be in a position to expedite a decision in this case.
It had been hoped that decisions on this case and many other outstanding cases could have been made last December but this did not prove possible in the light of developments at EU level.
