In the view of current European Community policy with regard to fleet capacity and the constraints imposed by that policy, sea fishing licences are being approved only where applicants undertake to remove capacity from the current sea fishing boat register of at least equal capacity to the boat they propose to introduce into the fleet.
An application for a sea fishing boat licence was received from the person to whom the Deputy refers and has been considered by the Department. A licence offer has issued to the applicant stating that a licence would be granted if certain licensing policy requirements, including the requirement to withdraw replacement capacity, were met.
As regards the arrangements to regularise the position of unregistered vessels, I can confirm that, as has been agreed with the European Commission, an additional 3,000 gross registered tonnes may be added to the capacity of the Irish fleet to enable the registration of vessels which were part of the fleet since 1984 but which for various reasons have never been formally registered.
As the vessel in question was introduced into the country sometime in the last two years, it would appear that it is not eligible for consideration in the context of the allocation of the 3,000 tonnes. However, I have instructed that the case be re-examined.
