Vol. 395 No. 3
19 Mr. G. O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Defence, having regard to the fact that Ireland has 20 per cent of the EC fishing grounds, whether the present naval fishery protection fleet is adequate; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The adequacy of the vessels, aircraft and equipment available to the Defence Forces for the purpose of discharging their role in relation to fishery protection is a matter which is kept under constant review.
Following the adoption by the Fisheries Council of the European Communities of a decision providing for substantial funding for fisheries surveillance in member states, my Department, in consultation with the other Departments concerned, are at present considering the provision of an enhanced fisheries surveillance capability for the Defence Forces.
Will the Minister agree that some of the foreign fishing fleets, which are now inside our waters, have highly sophisticated equipment and can detect our ships? The only answer to policing our waters properly is to increase our fleet. Will the Minister indicate whether EC funding will be available fairly soon for that purpose?
We are examining proposals at present in that regard. A decision was taken towards the end of last year by the Fisheries Council to allocate funds for this purpose. The last two boats which were purchased from the UK Admiralty, and adapted, have the most advanced sophisticated technology available for surveillance and investigation. Their electronic equipment is way ahead of most protection vessels throughout the world. This is a real success story as they are now in a position to take control in regard to illegal fishing.
We need more ships at sea to police our waters properly.
I share the Deputy's concerns that this should be done properly.
The message should not go out from this House that we all agree with the Minister's comments that we are winning the war against illegal fishing, because that is not the case. Will the Minister confirm that a high proportion of our fleet was tied up during most of 1989 for repair purposes? Has this now ended? Is our fleet seaworthy and available for service when called on?
There was a problem last year because the two new boats which we purchased had to be fitted with the best equipment. That has now been done. At that time we did not have sufficient personnel but we are now recruiting extra men and the two new boats, as well as the other seven, will be operational in about a month. We will also have air back-up when we receive EC funds for helicopters which will enable us to sweep the whole area and maintain contact with the vessels. Air back-up is very important because a very wide area of sea is involved. It means that foreign vessels fishing can be identified far more clearly and the information relayed to boats in the area. We can never be complacent in this respect, there were several inadequacies last year and we are trying to remedy them.
Are all seven boats back at sea?
They will all be operational fairly shortly, as soon as personnel are allocated to them.
