Seanad Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 3 Jun 1992

Vol. 132 No. 17

Fishery Harbour Centres (Amendment) Bill, 1992: Second and Subsequent Stages.

Question proposed: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

Minister for the Marine (Dr. Woods)

The purpose of this Bill is to define the seaward limits of Castletownbere Harbour to include Berehaven Sound within those limits and thereby enable me by order, under section 2 of the Fishery Harbour Centres Act, 1968, to extend the limits of the Castletownbere Fishery Harbour Centre to coincide with the seaward limits of Castletownbere Harbour.

Berehaven Sound at present forms part of Bantry Bay Harbour and is under the aegis of the Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners. Foreign fish factory ships which visit Castletownbere during the mackerel season are unable to berth at the Fishery Harbour Centre because of their size and these ships operate from the Sound. Because the fish factory ships anchor in Berehaven Sound, harbour dues accrue to Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners, who are based 30 miles away by road and two hours by boat.

There is full agreement locally that dues from fishery related activity in the Sound should accrue to the Fishery Harbour Centre. It is also desirable from a safety and geographical point of view to have the Sound under the jurisdiction of the Fishery Harbour Centre. The harbour master at the Fishery Harbour Centre in Castletownbere estimates that he could have collected £65,000 in 1990 and £47,000 last year in respect of harbour dues from fish factory ships anchored in the Sound. To do this the Fishery Harbour Centre has to be extended to include the Sound.

Briefly, the Bill defines the seaward limits of Castletownbere Harbour. It provides that Castletownbere Harbour includes the area known locally as Berehaven Sound. This is the sea area within the limits of a straight line from Fair Head to Shee Head on the western side and, on the eastern side, a straight line drawn from Furze Point to Roancarrigmore Lighthouse and thence to Carrigranean Island and thence further to Bear Island.

The Bill provides that an order made by the Minister for the Marine under section 2 of the Fishery Harbour Centres Act, 1968, to extend the limits of the Castletownbere Fishery Harbour Centre to incorporate the Sound will not be subject to the procedures outlined in section 2 (6) of the 1968 Act. This will dispense with the requirement to publish notice of the proposed order in Iris Oifigiúil or the daily newspapers. It also provides that Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners will have no powers, functions or duties in relation to the Castletownbere Fishery Harbour Centre.

The Bill also provides that where a vessel in the course of its voyage to or from Bantry Bay Harbour anchors or passes through Castletownbere Fishery Harbour Centre, harbour rates will not be payable in respect of the anchoring or passage aforesaid.

The extent of Castletownbere Harbour was not defined in the Fishery Harbour Centres Act, 1968. That Act designated a number of fishery harbour centres, including Castletownbere, and provided for their limits of jurisdiction to be defined by ministerial order. However, in the case of Berehaven Sound legal advice available to me concludes that it is extremely doubtful that the substantial sea area of the Sound forms part of Castletownbere Harbour. The legal advice also concludes that amending legislation is required to include the Sound within the Castletownbere Fishery Harbour Centre.

The Bill now before the House addresses this legal difficulty by including the area known locally as Berehaven Sound within the limits of Castletownbere Harbour. Once the Bill has been passed by both Houses I will then be in a position to redefine by order the limits of the Castletownbere Fishery Harbour Centre to include in it the Sound. This will enable the harbour master to collect the harbour dues properly payable in respect of the facilities afforded to the fish factory ships.

There remains the question of harbour dues on commercial activity in the Sound area. I discussed the provisions of the Bill with the Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners during the course of my recent visit to Bantry. The Commissioners drew to my attention the fact that from time to time commercial vessels in the course of their voyage to or from Bantry Bay Harbour anchor in the Roancarrigmore lighthouse area. Once the Castletownbere limits are extended such traffic could then become liable to pay harbour dues to two public authorities, the Castletownbere Fishery Harbour Centre and the Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners. In order to provide adequately and fairly for this situation I introduced an amendment to the Bill on Committee Stage in Dáil Éireann. The amendment, which was fully supported by Dáil Éireann and which now forms section 2 (4) of the Bill before this House, will ensure that a situation such as this will not arise.

I hope this short Bill will command the support of this House.

Mrs. Jackman

I welcome this Bill and wish it as speedy a passage through the Seanad as it had through the Dáil. It is self-explanatory. My only visit to Castletownbere harbour was during the Seanad "trail" where its beauty caused me to stop in my tracks. It is a harbour of extreme beauty, with physical qualities and attributes that give it potential for tourism as well as for development as a leading fishing port. This has been called for by many Deputies in the Dáil.

Commercial viability has to be considered. There is a need for more facilities, and, hopefully, in the context of Maastricht funding will go towards ensuring that infrastructure facilities there will be improved by the provision of a larger ice plant and lifts, because this is an area of extremely dangerous waters which can deal with larger ships.

One aspect of the Bill on which I am not very clear relates to the lack of revenue. The harbour master estimates that he could have collected £65,000 in 1990 and £47,000 last year in respect of harbour dues from fish factory ships anchored in the Sound. Hopefully, the commercial viability of this harbour will be extended to ensure that that money will not be lost to the area. Unemployment figures are quite high for that part of Cork and, therefore, commercial viability is essential. It is not just enough to have scenic beauty; the area must also be developed as a centre of economic activity.

The Minister said that once the Castletownbere limits are extended vessels could then become liable to pay harbour dues to two public authorities — the Castletownbere Fishery Harbour Centre and the Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners. Looking through the debate in the Dáil, I noted that that amendment, which was the only aspect of the Bill that needed to be clarified, was accepted and that it ensures that situation will not arise again. Now that the position has been defined, I hope there will be further infrastructural development to ensure that the harbour operates viably.

Mr. McGowan

I welcome the introduction of this Bill. While it will help the Harbour Commissioners at Castletownbere to collect more fees, I believe that it has a much more important function. With the liberalisation of travel generally, we need to set very definite limits at sea. We have so many estuaries. We talk about fishing limits. It is necessary to define the limits, not including inlets and estuaries, of our many important fishing grounds. It is hard to educate those who are not interested in keeping to any guidelines. I see this Bill as being just as important for the definition of fishing limits as for the collection of harbour fees.

We must have funding for the upkeep of our harbours and piers. I come from a part of the country where we have ongoing difficulties with foreign fishing vessels and also with the upkeep of our harbours and piers. Their upkeep must be financed from whatever source funding can be obtained. Everybody involved in the fishing industry will welcome this development. I encourage the Minister to proceed with legislation and with regulations under the legislation to clarify the positon regarding as much of our waters as possible. Legislation should be drawn up and implemented sooner rather than later because it will become harder if we become full EC partners and therefore subject to EC legislation and law.

Mr. Staunton

I will address myself briefly to this uncontroversial Bill which does not have much substance to it and has the support of this side of the House.

It seems sensible to define the seaward limits of Castletownbere Harbour to include Berehaven Sound. In his speech the Minister explained the anomaly whereby factory ships serving Castletownbere moor about 30 miles away in Bantry Harbour. It is desirable that dues rightfully owing to the Castletownbere harbour centre should be collected there. The estimated loss was £65,000 in 1990 and £47,000 last year and it may possibly be more in future.

I wish the people involved in fishing in Castletownbere well. I know the place well; I bought seaweed there many years ago. When in Norway some years ago talking to people who manufacture capital goods for the fishmeal industry, I was instrumental in persuading the owner of a large Norwegian fishmeal company to come to Ireland. He went to Castletownbere intending to set up a facility which at that time was not available there. Castletownbere Harbour is a superb fishing location and the regularising of their situation will benefit the town and the State. I support the Bill.

Mr. Fitzgerald

I, too, support the Bill. It is right and sensible that the boundaries of Castlebownbere Harbour should extend far enough to embrace the factory boats or "Klondykers" which are anchored there, for three to four months a year; I have seen them there. It is appropriate that the Department of the Marine and Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners should exact long overdue harbour dues from these boats. Money is required for the maintenance of harbours; around the coast there are five major fishery harbours. There may be other harbours that could be extended in a similar fashion to Castletownbere Harbour in order to bring boats, commercial or otherwise, that anchor close to the boundaries, under the jurisdiction of the harbours.

Senator McGowan mentioned that we need money to maintain the harbours and we cannot expect the Department of the Marine and the Government to provide more money each year to do so. People may not agree with me when I say that a significant number of foreign fishing vessels fish off the west coast of Ireland. The time has come to entice these fishing boats into fishery harbours in Castletownbere, Dingle, Killybegs and elsewhere so that they may boost our income. They will fish within our 200 mile limit and take it home to Spain and France while we get nothing in return. I have held the view for a number of years that if we could entice these boats to land their fish in our harbours and to take fuel, ice, food, etc, on board there, these boats might leave on average — and I have checked the amount of money involved — £12,000 to £14,000 per trip in the port. Jobs would also be created in ports like Castletownbere from extra landings of foreign fishing boats. There is no point in discouraging them from landing in Irish ports. They have a right to land there and the hand of welcome should be extended to them because they will pay landing fees. Landing fees would help pay for the proper maintenance of our harbours.

I hope the Minister will not mind my saying that I would like Dingle declared a major fishery harbour centre. I hope he will take a close look at this proposal in the near future. I support the Bill.

Minister for the Marine (Dr. Woods)

With regard to Senator Fitzgerald's request £4.5 million has been allocated to Dingle Harbour at this stage. I hope the authorities there will put things in order to enable us to promote Dingle Harbour as a fine fishery harbour. I will bear the Senator's views in mind.

Senator Fitzgerald mentioned the question and provision of funds generally. We will be looking for extra funds under the Maastricht Treaty and hoping to double the moneys now available. The fishery and commercial harbours will be prime targets for the allocation of money for the improvement of infrastructure. We look forward to that development.

I thank Senator Staunton for his support and for noting his personal interest in Castletownbere Harbour having collected seaweed there in the past for his own operations.

Senator McGowan is familiar with the difficulties surrounding foreign vessels. This is an issue to which we must adopt a positive approach. Foreign vessels must be encouraged to land in Ireland and to have their products processed here.

Senator Jackman who raised a number of issues would like to see landing fees being used for harbour development. Castletownbere Harbour is developing well at present and I expect that it will develop into an excellent fishery harbour. This Bill is supported by local residents. We have taken action quickly, have overcome the legalities and are ready to go ahead once this legislation is passed. The order can be made without delay to enable dues to be collected.

Dues foregone are of the order of £50,000 to £65,000, an important sum for the local harbour which has been in deficit in recent years. Money raised under this provision will be used to clear the deficit, after which it will go into a fund to finance works in various harbours. In Castletownbere a number of recent works have been undertaken, such as reroofing the auction hall, the installation of a new ice plant in 1991 and the large scale overhaul of the synchro lift which has not yet been completed — it requires certification of the weights it can carry before it can go into operation. Navigational lights and some of the high mast lights have been provided locally. Altogether quite an amount of harbour work has been done recently.

Our policy is to plough back the money collected into necessary and worthwhile harbour developments. We need more money for harbour development which we will look for anywhere we can. Funds allocated to Ireland under the Structural and Cohesion funds following the Maastricht Treaty will be important in this area and to the Department of the Marine generally because we are charged with improving access to Europe, and with the development of commercial harbours and fishery harbours. Fishery harbours are developing their business very well at present.

We are re-examining the Common Fisheries Policy at EC level. Our objective there is to be allowed to catch more fish and to have more boats so that harbour business and employment may be increased.

I thank the Senators for their welcome for this Bill which is very important locally in Castletownbere. It will make a major difference to the town. We have sorted out the difficulties which had arisen between Bantry and Castletownbere. Everybody is happy with what is being done and looks forward to the speedy and efficient implementation of this proposal. I look forward to putting these measures into operation at the earliest possible moment.

Question put and agreed to.

Agreed to take remaining Stages today.

Bill put through Committee, reported without amendment and received for final consideration.

Question proposed: "That the Bill do now pass."

Minister for the Marine (Dr. Woods)

I thank the Seanad for dealing with this Bill so efficiently, which will be very welcome in Castletownbere. Senator Fitzgerald asked that we explore the possibility of obtaining dues from foreign ships around the coast. All I can say at this stage is that I have noted the comments and will certainly bear them in mind.

Question put and agreed to.

An Cathaoirleach

On the Order of Business this morning it was agreed that the Electoral (No. 2) Bill, 1991 would be taken at 4.30 p.m. It is, therefore, necessary to suspend the House until 4.30 p.m.

Sitting suspended at 3.15 p.m. and resumed at 4.30 p.m.