Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 July 2023
6. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when he will revert to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine to advise when the Island Fisheries (Heritage Licence) Bill 2017 can be progressed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34612/23]
View answerI am seeking to make an advance in regard to the Island Fisheries (Heritage Licence) Bill, which the Minister will recall we brought forward when we were on the Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine in 2017. Deputy Ferris and I introduced this legislation. It is designed to ensure island fishermen have a chance to be able to make an income. It is for small artisan fishers to be able to use boats of less than 12 m where the fisher is on the boat. The holder of the licence has to be on the boat when fishing.
The legislation has been delayed considerably. We understand we are awaiting direction from the Minister to the committee to get this moved forward. I hope he will have a positive response.
I hope to engage with the committee shortly to provide an update on the Bill. The Island Fisheries (Heritage Licence) Bill 2017, to which the Deputy referred, seeks to create a specific system for licensing island fishers to conduct small-scale coastal fishing activities and would provide regulatory powers for this purpose.
There have been a number of significant developments since 2017. My colleague the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys, published Our Living Islands, our important national islands policy, in June, for example. Its aim is to ensure sustainable, vibrant communities on our islands. A whole-of-government policy has been developed following an extensive consultation process with the island communities in respect of a specific action plan for 2023 to 2026.
On fisheries, I established the seafood task force, as the Deputy will be aware, to analyse in depth the impact of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, TCA. A number of proposals emerged from that task force, which published its report in 2021, recommending 16 initiatives.
To date, I have announced 12 schemes, with a budget in excess of €270 million. In addition, since the inception of the Bill, I have given official recognition to two new producer organisations for inshore fishers, the Irish Islands Marine Resource Organisation and the National Inshore Fishermen’s Association. This significantly improves the standing and advocacy of small-scale fishers in sea fisheries consultative processes, including the quota management advisory committee, which makes recommendations to me on the management of national fish quotas.
In respect of the Bill, I have sought significant legal advice on its legality and the possibility of its being implemented and taken forward. I will consider that in detail and revert to the committee soon with an update in that regard.
I thank the Minister. I appreciate these matters have to be given due consideration, but the position for island dwellers is that their opportunities for making a livelihood are limited because they live on an island in the sea and do not have many of the opportunities people living in any other part of the country have. They have a tradition of using small boats and they have an opportunity to try to make a living from that. While I appreciate the work the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and other Ministers may be doing to try to make the islands more viable, if people cannot make a living, they will not be viable. This is an opportunity to carve out a tiny percentage of the quota to support those who live on the islands and are artisan fishers. The likes of eight to ten boxes of fish a day is all they are talking about catching. They are not like the massive trawlers. What really annoys them is that they see the fish stocks being taken by these supertrawlers while they cannot make a living.
The legislation originated in the committee of the previous Dáil, which was chaired by the then Deputy Andrew Doyle. A report on the islands was produced and this concept came from that report. That is why it is important we progress it. I understand the Minister has to consider everything and that legal issues will be involved but, at the end of the day, the people who live on the islands need to make a living and this is an opportunity to give them a chance to do that.
Like the Deputy, I very much value our islands and wish to make sure there are sustainable, economic livelihoods on them. Traditionally, fishing was the biggest part of that and really drove the economies of the islands, although that has become less so as the years have passed. I want to work in any way we can to support the inshore fishing sector both around our coast and, in particular, on the islands, where it is even more significant. That is why significant time has been spent and engagement has happened to get legal advice on the Bill, on which I will engage further with the committee.
It is also why, last year and this year, for the first time ever, I introduced some financial supports targeting the inshore sector in particular and small boats that work on the islands. Last year, a boat of under 18 m in length, for example, was eligible for €4,000 under a Brexit scheme I had introduced, and I have extended that this year. Last year and this year, therefore, for the first time ever, inshore fishers, who normally got nothing, will have got €8,000 if their boats are between 8 m and 18 m in length, or just under €5,500 if under 8 m.
This is important legislation that deserves consideration. I have looked at it in detail from a legal point of view and will revert to the committee shortly with considerations.
I understand that, but the Bill was introduced in 2017 and it is now 2023. I think the Minister will appreciate that, while he can say many positive things have happened, many negative ones have happened as well. Our islands are dying, as all the reports that have emerged over the decades have shown. The populations have decreased and decreased and opportunities for people to make a livelihood on the islands are essential. This legislation will go some way towards doing that.
Today is the final day the Dáil will sit before the recess, and the Minister is saying he is going to revert shortly. I think it was last February when we first got a response stating he intended to revert to the committee shortly on this legislation. We need to get action on this. Continually kicking it down the road is simply unconscionable for the people who live on the islands and the fishing community. We are not talking about people who are out to make a fortune; they just want to make a living. It is an issue also of safety. If they are given the opportunity, they can safely operate their vessels. At the moment, they are out there, trying very hard to make a living, but they do not have the opportunity to do so. They are restricted with quota and in all kinds of manners, and very often fishermen go out on their own, which is very dangerous. We need to put something in place that will deliver for them. It will not cost the Government anything. We are not talking about grants or supports here. We are talking about giving people an opportunity to make a living from fishing, as they have done for centuries.
I accept this has taken time, but I assure the Deputy that if it were straightforward, it would have been dealt with long ago. I had legal advice on my table regarding the workability and legality of the Bill, and I then sought further legal advice in that regard because I wanted to explore it from every angle and fully examine what the proposal was and what the potential might be. That has taken time and consideration, which is why it has taken so long. If it were straightforward or more workable or doable, I would have reverted to the committee long ago. It is because-----
Was the legal advice negative?
I will update the committee shortly on it, but the Deputy can take it that it has been very challenging given it has taken so long to consider it, look at it and see what the options might be. Before the end of this month, I will revert to the committee with my update on the Bill. Like the Deputy, I want to do everything we can to support the islanders. From a Government point of view, that is a big priority, as it has been for me from a fisheries point of view. I outlined the supports I have put in place, which have been very specific to the inshore sector, on which islanders depend. It has not happened before now because it has not been by any means straightforward or easy to bring to a conclusion.
