Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 September 2023
453. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to publish the full list, in tabular form, by vessel name, registered owner, vessel size, quota attached to the vessel, tonnage and port of all participants in the fishing boat decommissioning scheme approved through the Brexit adjustment reserve funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41512/23]
View answerIn March it was announced that 42 vessels had accepted offers made under the Brexit Voluntary Permanent Cessation Scheme. The vessels that accepted offers comprise a mixture of prawn and whitefish trawlers, seine netters, gillnetters, and beam trawl vessels, spread around fishing ports along the coast.
Of the 42 vessels that accepted offers under the Scheme:
• 39 vessels have proceeded with their application.
• 3 vessels have withdrawn their application.
The 39 vessels proceeding have a combined gross tonnage of 6,300 GT representing 80% of the original target of 8,000 Gross Tonnes to be voluntarily withdrawn from the Irish fleet as recommended by the Seafood Taskforce, at a total cost of €60 million.
Of the 39 vessels proceeding:
• 30 vessels have been decommissioned.
• 6 currently being dismantled.
• 3 vessels will be decommissioned during October.
To date, 26 of the 39 vessels have been paid in full, with the other 13 having received their first payment. A total of €50 million has been paid out.
As a number of these vessel owners are yet to complete the 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.
