Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 June 2023
487. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine for an update on the decommissioning scheme being operated by his Department; how many applications have been approved; the stage they are at in progression; how many vessel owners have been paid at this stage of the process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29792/23]
View answerIn March it was announced that 42 vessels had accepted offers made under the Brexit Voluntary Permanent Cessation Scheme. These vessels had a combined total capacity of over 6,700 gross tonnes, equivalent to 84% of the target of 8,000 Gross Tonnes to be voluntarily withdrawn from the Irish fleet that was recommended by the Seafood Taskforce. The total cost for decommissioning these vessels was approximately €63 million. These 42 vessels comprise a mixture of prawn and whitefish trawlers, seine netters, gillnetters, and beam trawl vessels, spread around fishing ports along the coast.
Since this announcement, 14 vessels have completed decommissioning of which, 11 have received final payment.
Additional vessels are in various stages of the decommissioning process. While the offers made under the scheme have been accepted by the vessel owners, these individuals still have to comply with the terms and conditions of the offer and complete the decommissioning process within the timelines specified by the scheme. As the majority of these vessel owners are yet to complete this process and receive all payments, it would not be appropriate at this point to offer any further segmentation, detail or individual vessel characteristics which may result in the identification of individual applicants.
