Vol. 408 No. 6
39 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for the Marine the reason a sea fishing licence has not been granted to a person (details supplied) in County Waterford in view of the fact that he is providing replacement tonnage and holds a certificate of registration for the vessel being replaced; and if he will have the matter examined.
This application is currently being processed and my Department are in correspondence with the applicant. I understand that clarification has been sought regarding the status of the boat which is proposed for deregistration.
I should explain to the Deputy that, for a variety of reasons, a number of boats have gained entry to the sea fishing boat register where there is considerable doubt whether they properly met the criteria necessary for valid registration. For example, in some cases, the boats may have been wrecked some years ago and did not exist at the time of registration.
The Deputy will appreciate that to accept such boats as replacement vessels would convey a totally unwarranted bonus to the owners involved. It is against this background that my Department have adopted the practice of investigating where necessary the status of certain boats before accepting them as replacement vessels.
