Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 November 2020
819. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of fishermen and women that availed of the Covid-19 tie up payment by each category of the scheme and in absolute and relative terms to the estimated total eligible number of boats in tabular form. [35195/20]
View answer820. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the estimated cost when the Covid-19 tie up payment scheme was devised; the areas in which the remaining funds in the difference between the two have been spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35196/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 819 and 820 together.
The previous Minister met with representatives of the fisheries sector on a number of occasions earlier this year to discuss the impacts of the Covid 19 Pandemic on market access and prices for seafood. At their request, a Covid-19 Temporary Fleet Tie-up Scheme was introduced for fishing vessels in the Polyvalent, Beam Trawl and Specific segments of the fleet.
The Scheme operated over three months June to August inclusive, and allowed vessel owners to voluntarily opt to tie up for a maximum of two months each. The Scheme was intended as a safety net scheme to assist fishermen who did not consider fishing to be economically viable during a temporary period of market disturbance and weak prices. The Scheme supported the fixed costs incurred by the vessel owners and as such was designed to complement the Covid-19 wage supports and loan arrangements already being provided by Government to the fishing sector and indeed other sectors of our economy. The supports to fixed costs available under the Scheme were based on official data derived from fishing vessel owners as part of the EU Data Collection Framework. Support payments ranged from €500 per month for the very smallest vessels under 8 metres up to €6,000 for the largest over 24 metres.
While the European Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF) regulation was amended to facilitate Covid-19 mitigation measure, no additional funding was provided by the EU to implement such measures. The Scheme was funded under my Department's EMFF Programme 2014-20 which is nearing its end, with its funds almost entirely committed. As a demand-led scheme, and with a rapidly changing market situation in Europe, likely take-up of the Scheme and cost could not be forecast in advance. Likewise, the number of eligible vessels could not be identified in advance as there were particular eligibility requirements to be met and data was not available on which vessel owners might satisfy those requirements.
A maximum budget of approximately €1.7 million was re-allocated from other support schemes to facilitate the Tie-up scheme. Ultimately, some 98 grant offers were accepted by fishing vessel owners involving 147 one-month tie-up periods and at a cost of €218,000. The unused funds are being re-allocated back for other support measures. This may potentially allow BIM to re-open the scheme of capital grants for investment on board, which were suspended by BIM earlier this year, though this is subject to an evaluation of the overall commitment situation for the Programme.
The table below provides a breakdown of the 147 tie-up periods aided.
|
Category |
June |
July |
August |
|
<6m |
10 |
10 |
1 |
|
6 < 8m |
11 |
17 |
7 |
|
8 < 10m |
20 |
16 |
5 |
|
10 < 12m |
11 |
3 |
1 |
|
12 < 15m |
7 |
4 |
1 |
|
15 < 18m |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
18 < 24m |
6 |
7 |
2 |
|
> 24m |
2 |
3 |
1 |
