Vol. 277 No. 9
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the steps he intends to take to achieve a major breakthrough on the expansion of the fishing industry in Kerry, with the employment and export potential it can generate, to the benefit of the nation and to assist in redressing the balance of payments situation.
66.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries his policies in regard to the improvement and expansion of the fishing industry, especially in so far as fishermen with small boats along the west and southwest of Ireland are concerned.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 65 and 66 together.
The policy of the Government in relation to the fishing industry is to secure a balanced development of all sectors of the industry as quickly as possible. To this end the Government are providing very generous financial aids, particularly in Gaeltacht areas, for those interested in establishing new fishery enterprises or expanding existing ones. In addition technical advice is available to such persons from various bodies including An Bord Iascaigh Mhara and the Industrial Development Authority as well as from my Department. I am satisfied that these facilities are adequate but it must be appreciated that the development of individual fishery projects is mainly a matter for private enterprise in the first instance.
That is not the answer I expected. Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that of all the fish caught off our western coast, 8½ per cent is all that was landed here? There are magnificent harbours and facilities here and raw material worth £100 million available off our coast. Is there nobody in the Fisheries Division who can see the value of this raw material? There are German firms interested in coming in, one prepared to put £1 million into processing there. Can the Parliamentary Secretary say what it is intended to do to encourage this industry beyond the pitiful effort being made at present?
I can assure the Deputy that the Department, BIM and myself are making a united effort to ensure that our fisheries are developed and that there will be general improvements all round in relation to those engaged in the industry, fishermen, fish processors and so on. We have numerous aids which are set down for helping the industry, and I shall be only too glad to convey any further information to Deputy O'Connor because I am aware of his interest in this question, and he did ask me for information some time ago.
I am trying to convey further information to the Parliamentary Secretary. The fishery exports of Norway, a small country like our own, are worth £300 million, and that must surely indicate to the Parliamentary Secretary the infantile effort we are putting into this industry.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary being honest and truthful when he says the Government are doing everything possible to promote the fishing industry, particularly among the people with small boats along the western and south western seaboard, when the Government cut the Estimate for Fisheries this year from £640,000 to £500,000?
Question No. 67.
I want a reply from the Parliamentary Secretary.
The Deputy is giving information, not asking a question.
Is the Minister aware that at small piers and harbours in West Cork, in Castletownbere, small trucks and lorries have to be reversed down piers in order to collect fish from boats, and the drivers are in danger of being killed?
Deputy O'Leary's statement seems to centre on harbour development, and he has complained that more work has not been done. The Deputy is justified in making such a complaint because down through the years a sizeable percentage of the money approved by this House for harbour development was never expended, and in 1972, the last year of Fianna Fáil, 66 per cent of it remained unexpended.
The Estimate was never cut until this year and it was cut from £640,000 to £500,000.
No, it was increased.
Justify that in West Cork.
Could I ask the Parliamentary Secretary a question?
It is relevant, I take it, to Nos. 65 and 66.
Yes, Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that the Office of Public Works carried out a survey of small harbours in the west of Ireland and had prepared before the change in Government the programme which is not now being pursued?
This programme of surveying harbours is continuing.
