Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 June 2016
536. Deputy John Deasy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps he has taken by his Department on foot of the 2015 report of the Committee of Public Accounts and its recommendations in regard to improving commercial management and better utilisation of resources within the State fishery harbour centres. [14345/16]
View answerThe Committee’s report on the Fishery Harbour Centres was launched in June 2015 and followed on from my Department's attendance at the Public Accounts Committee on 16 October 2014 and subsequent correspondences with the Committee. The issues addressed by the Committee were in the main subject of a special report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (special report no. 82) in April 2014.
My Department has accepted the recommendations of the Committee’s report. The report itself acknowledged the strategic importance of the Fishery Harbour Centres which are owned and managed by my Department under Statute. The fact that 84% of all fish landings into the State are landed into the six Fishery Harbour Centres emphasises how critical this infrastructure is for the ongoing development and management of our Seafood Sector.
The report also noted that improvements have taken place in the management of the FHCs since the Department took over responsibility for them in October 2007.
My Department has over recent years substantially restructured its administrative staffing, structures, procedures and operational management of the harbours and I am confident these changes will continue to generate improvements in the functioning and management of the harbours. This revised structure serves to provide a clear segregation of the Department’s Fishery Harbour Centres control and development responsibilities as enshrined under the Fishery Harbour Centres Act, 1968.
A Fishery Harbour Centre Management Committee, at Principal Officer Level has been established. The Management Committee comprises representation from the Sea Fisheries Administration Division, the Marine Engineering Division and the Accounts Division of the Department.
Officials from my Department have met with Enterprise Ireland, most recently on 20 January 2016, to discuss potential cooperation opportunities by making vacant Harbour properties available to facilitate the delivery of suitable Enterprise Ireland projects. These meetings are now a normal part of operations and it is intended for the next meeting to take place in July.
The majority of Fishery Harbour Centre (FHC) properties are leased to a variety of public and private sector tenants which support the FHCs’ role as working fishery harbours in addition to a broad range of other marine and leisure activities. My Department is working closely with the Chief State Solicitor’s Office to regularise existing complex legacy property arrangements, and to gain vacant possession of other properties with a view to making them available by means of Public Tender. Reviews of the FHCs’ property portfolio (213 properties) take place on an ongoing basis in relation to maximising returns to the Fishery Harbour Centre Fund. Six vacant FHC properties were put out to public tender in 2015/2016 and leases have now been signed for four properties.
