Vol. 354 No. 9
asked the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry if he has approved a proposal from An Bord Iascaigh Mhara to alleviate hardship on boat owners and fishermen who are unable to meet their loan repayments; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
19.
asked the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry if he has any proposals for a rescue package for fishermen whose livelihoods are threatened; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
20.
asked the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry the Governemnt's attitude to An Bord Iascaigh Mhara's rescue package deal which was presented recently.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 18 to 20 inclusive, together.
I have received certain proposals from An Bord Iascaigh Mhara regarding repayments under the board's marine credit plan. A final decision on these proposals has not yet been made.
Can the Minister of State give us some details of the proposals he has received and some indication of where they are at present?
I cannot give details of the proposals because they are under consideration by the Government. Negotiations are going on between Bord Iascaigh Mhara and the Department of Finance in relation to the proposals, but I cannot give information about them.
To clear the air, are the proposals with BIM, the Minister of State's Department, the Department of Finance or the Government? Can the Minister of State clarify that? There seems from his reply to be some confusion as to where the proposals are.
The negotiations are taking place between BIM and the Department of Finance. That is where the proposals are.
Do I understand from the Minister of State's reply that they have received proposals from BIM? If that was so, surely BIM would have agreed with the Department or with the Minister or with somebody, because the proposals were submitted.
The proposals first come to the Department, we make an assessment of the proposals and then they have to be ratified by the Department of Finance. That process is in operation at the moment and discussions are now taking place between the officials in BIM and the Department of Finance.
Where do the Department come in?
We have examined the proposals and made recommendations on them, but the details have to be worked out between BIM and the Department of Finance.
Did the Department of Fisheries and Forestry recommend the proposals which BIM made to them? Did the Minister of State's Department recommend those to the Department of Finance?
I cannot disclose the subject matter of the negotiations.
Will the Minister of State agree that it will be necessary to consider the repatriation of foreign loans, the removal of excise duty and the extension of the repayment periods? Does the Minister of State still consider that those recommendations should be considered seriously? From my exercise on this, those three headings would cost something in the region of only £1 million and would save thousands of jobs.
All three proposals have been considered in relation to what the Deputy has raised.
Would the Minister of State like to comment on a press interview by the chief executive of BIM who said that he was extremely disappointed and felt that there would be a scaling down of the proposals as submitted?
I am not prepared to discuss the content of the proposals or the deliberations between the Department. I cannot do it.
Does the Minister of State condone the giving of interviews by chief executives of boards under his control to discuss these publicly while we in this House are not permitted to discuss them publicly?
No, I think it improper.
These are very serious questions, and I am sure that the Minister of State is aware of the seriousness of the financial position of the fishing industry at present. Is the Minister of State aware of the serious state the industry is in at present? Is he not aware that between £6 million and £8 million is owed in loan repayments by fishermen, that there is a very serious threat that many of the boats will be repossessed and that there is a crisis in the industry which needs to be dealt with urgently, apart altogether from a further crisis in relation to the enlargement of the Community? Is he saying that between himself, BIM and the Department of Finance and the Government——
This is argument. I will allow a general question.
——we still have not got a proposal from the Minister that he is prepared to sanction the finance?
I wish Deputies would get a grip on what Question Time is all about.
I am aware of the problems in relation to repayments on boats in the fishing industry. That is the reason the proposals are before the Department of Finance.
I have been very generous in respect of supplementaries but Question Time is being turned into a farce.
That is not our intention but we are not getting the information we require. Will the Minister ensure that a favourable decision is extracted from the Government as soon as possible and, failing that, what steps do BIM and the Department of Fisheries propose taking to resolve this most serious problem? This is a time when the Government are selling out our fishing rights, when the bottom line is a ten year period with a transitional period of five years and when a majority vote will decide our position.
The Chair will ignore long statements of that nature.
It is my intention to extract from the Government as soon as possible the rescue package as proposed.
