I understand that this was a suggestion made by the chairman of the Irish Fisherman's Organisation in the course of his address to the fisheries seminar.
With constraints on fleet capacity, and in this regard the European Commission has estimated that the level of access capacity may be as high as 40 per cent, severe financial difficulties face any person, young or old, who may wish to enter the fishing sector either through the purchase of an existing vessel, or through the introduction of a vessel not previously in the fleet.
The use of incentives to give advantages to younger or more qualified people over older or less qualified persons to facilitate their entry to any sector is not a standard feature of most sectoral policies. The objective of structural policies must be to bring about market adjustment which will best promote the long term growth of any sector.
Apart from the policy principles and objectives involved, there would also be serious practical difficulties in drawing fine lines between young and old, or qualified and less qualified and especially in giving due weight to experience which tends to be positively correlated with age.
In addition, of course, the costs of any scheme would have to be considered and especially so if these were to be borne by the Exchequer.
