Phil Hogan
Ceist:49 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for the Marine the purpose and terms of the decommissioning scheme; and its likely impact on employment in the industry.
Written Answers. - Fishing Vessel Decommissioning Scheme.
As the Deputy will be aware, provision for a voluntary fishing vessel decommissioning scheme has been included in the fisheries programme of the national plan for the period 1994-99.
The objective of the scheme is to remove up to 4,000 gross registered tonnage from the fleet and so to enable Ireland to meet its fleet targets while at the same time assisting in the long term development of the fleet by facilitating the entry of more modern vessels.
Without such a scheme, Ireland would have extreme difficulty in meeting its fleet capacity targets. This could have serious implications for European Union Structural Funding for the fishing industry.
While the details of the scheme are currently being worked out in the Department, I can say that, in outline, the conditions of the scheme will be as follows: only vessels currently and correctly entered on the Register of Sea Fishing Vessels and actively fishing will be eligible for a decommissioning grant; in order to qualify for a grant, a vessel must be removed from the Register of Sea Fishing Vessels and must be scrapped; boats so scrapped will not be accepted as replacement capacity and the scheme will be administered by BIM.
The scheme will also operate in line with the guidelines for decommissioning schemes set in the new Fisheries Structural Funds Regulation agreed by the Council last December. This will mean, for example, that vessels decommissioned will have to have proven track records of fishing and must satisfy certain age conditions.
The levels of grant-aid for decommissioning have not yet been decided. However, I can inform the Deputy that up to some £6 million has been earmarked for the scheme and that funding for the scheme will be available from the European Union at rates between 50 per cent and 75 per cent.
Given that it is envisaged that vessels likely to be decommissioned will generally be the smaller, older and less efficient boats in the fleet, the reduction in full-time jobs should not be significant. Moreover, losses in employment as a consequence of decommissioning should, to a large extent, be balanced by gains in employment resulting from investment in vessel modernisation.