Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 30 Mar 1995

Vol. 451 No. 4

Written Answers. - Operational Programme for Fisheries.

John Browne

Ceist:

42 Mr. Browne (Wexford) asked the Minister for the Marine the way in which the operational programme for fisheries, 1994 to 1999, will be of benefit to trawler owners who want to modernise their fleet in line with those of other EU countries. [6562/95]

Minister for the Marine (Mr. Coveney)

Under Ireland's Operational Programme for Fisheries the Irish Government and the European Commission plan for investment of over £30 million on renewal and modernisation of the fishing fleet during the six year period from 1994 to 1999. EU aid will amount to in excess of £9 million.

Last month, I announced that EU funding of almost £900,000 would be allocated to 17 approved fishing vessel modernisation projects. Total investment on these projects will amount to £3.5 million. These were the first projects to be approved under the fleet modernisation programme. A further aid package attracting EU funding of more than £100,000, to be spent on small scale fleet modernisation projects (i.e. attracting investment of less than £60,000 each), will be announced shortly. The remaining EU funding of over £8 million will be allocated to approved fishing vessel modernisation projects between the end of this year and 1999. The general objective of this grant-aided investment is to provide for modernisation and upgrading of the Irish fishing fleet to enable it to take up unused fishing quotas, increase catches of non-quota species and to improve safety, health and hygiene standards on board vessels. It will also bring the fleet into better balance with available resources thereby increasing landings, maintaining related jobs in the catching sector and increasing employment in the processing sector.