Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 June 2020
618. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the Coivd-19 fishing tie-up scheme will be reviewed and adjusted to greater meet the needs of fishing communities and ensure more fishers avail of same. [12651/20]
View answerThe Government’s primary objective for the fishing sector throughout the Covid-19 Pandemic has been to maintain fishing activity in order to ensure critical food supply lines to the domestic and European markets. For this reason, the Government classified fishing as an essential service and kept the fishery harbours and related support services open throughout the Pandemic. This remains the primary Government objective in relation to the fishing sector.
The Covid-19 Temporary Fleet Tie up Scheme is simply designed as a safety net scheme to provide a further option to fishermen who choose not to continue fishing. It is not designed as a replacement for viable fishing activity, wherever those possibilities exist. As European and Asian markets gradually begin to recover, as is happening at present, it is likely that demand and prices will continue to improve and, in those circumstances, many fishermen will continue to choose to fish and not to avail of the scheme. The Temporary Tie up Scheme, as a safety net scheme, is not designed to attract all fishermen or to bring all fishing activity to a halt.
Fishermen have been and will continue to be able to avail of the horizontal Government Covid-19 supports, such as the Pandemic Unemployment Benefit, the Wage Subsidy Scheme and the banking arrangements. Those horizontal supports continue to be available to the fishing sector and the Temporary Tie up Scheme is a further complementary and additional support to fishermen who choose not to continue fishing. The Scheme is not intended as an income replacement scheme for fishing vessel owners. The Scheme is intended to contribute towards the fixed costs associated with fishing vessels of various sizes that voluntarily choose to tie-up. The supports to fixed costs available under the Scheme range from €6,000 per month for a maximum of two months for the very largest vessels over 24 metres to €500 per month for a maximum of two months for the very smallest vessels under 6 metres in length. Those support levels are in line with the official fixed cost data for the fleet compiled by BIM under the EU Data Collection Framework.
It is up to each fishing vessel owner to decide whether to tie-up for a month or two or to keep fishing. It is, of course, preferable that fishermen do not consider it necessary to avail of the Government’s safety net supports for either income or fixed costs, and instead find profitable markets for their fish. In line with my announcement of the Scheme in May, I will be reviewing the scheme at the end of June to ensure it is meeting its objectives and assess if market conditions continue to warrant its continued operation.
