Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 February 2014
610. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide emergency financial aid to inshore fishermen whose incomes have been devastated due to the adverse weather conditions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7510/14]
View answer632. Deputy Jim Daly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will consider putting in place a compensation scheme for persons involved in the fishing industry who have incurred substantial losses from damage caused by recent weather events; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7979/14]
View answer648. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on correspondence regarding fishermen (details supplied); if he will assist; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8342/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions No. 610, 632 and 648 together.
On 12 February 2014, I informed the House that as part of its overall co-ordinated response to the impact of the recent unprecedented weather conditions, the Government had decided to allocate an additional €8.8 million for the repair of the publicly owned pier, harbour and slipway network linked to fisheries and aquaculture and to allocate up to €1.5 million to assist inshore fishermen in replacing lobster and shrimp pots lost or destroyed in the storms.
While it is difficult to be definitive at this stage, following extensive consultation with local authorities, my engineers estimate that there are more than 100 pier, harbour and slipway projects involving significant damage across nine counties. In light of the additional funds now available it is my intention to broaden the remit of my Department's 2014 capital programme immediately to encompass to the greatest extent possible repair works on publically-owned, fishery and aquaculture-related piers, slipways and infrastructure in harbours damaged by the storms. With that in mind, I will be inviting local authorities to follow up on their estimates of damage by applying for funding under the programme and to indicate their prioritised list of eligible projects on a county-by-county basis for consideration for funding for repair of the damage caused by the recent storms. The funding will be focussed on infrastructural repairs to fisheries and aquaculture-related harbours, piers and slipways.
In addition to the funding to be provided to local authorities, my Department will be moving to repair storm damage to piers, harbours and coastal infrastructure in its direct ownership. This will include moving as quickly as possible to repair the significant storm damage to North Harbour in Cape Clear, west Cork; Dunmore East Fishery Harbour Centre, County Waterford; the Gun Rock beacon, Inisboffin, County Mayo; the West Cove navigational beacon, County Kerry; and Roonagh Pier, County Mayo.
In relation to inshore fishermen, a temporary one-off scheme of assistance to these pot fishermen will be administered by Bord Iascaigh Mhara. The scheme will be focused on smaller inshore fishermen, with vessels under 15 metres. It will provide a set amount of €24 per lobster pot lost or €12 per shrimp pot lost, equivalent to 40% of the replacement cost, and will be capped at a maximum of 50 pots for under 12 metre vessels and 100 for under 15 metre vessels. A fisherman who has lost 100 pots at the replacement cost of approximately €6,000 will receive assistance of a little under €2,500. While I am conscious that some pot fishermen have reported losses of several hundred pots, I believe these are exceptional cases.
A fisherman availing of these schemes will be required to provide certain evidence to BIM to show that he was actively pot fishing in the months before the storms and evidence of purchase of pots that were lost. In addition, he will be required to make a sworn declaration concerning his losses. The budget for this Scheme will be borne by the existing Vote within my Department and is not additional funding. There is no scope to increase this budget further, so I am emphasising that should applications exceed this budget, the rate of assistance will be reduced, either in terms of the amount of payment per pot or the maximum number of pots, in order to remain within a managed budget.
The Deputies will agree that these are significant interventions in the current economic circumstances and are a clear indication of this Government's commitment to rural coastal communities and the inshore fishing sector.
