I welcome the opportunity to inform the House of the position in training facilities at the National Fisheries Training Centre at Greencastle and developments in fisheries training in general. Deputy Finucane has raised this matter on many occasions and my colleague, Deputy Keaveney, has also made strong representations on it.
As the House is aware the Greencastle Centre, which is operated by BIM, provides formal training and education for the fishing and aquaculture industry in Ireland. The centre has established a first class record for the provision of practical fisheries training in line with the highest international standards and is equipped with the most up-to-date electronic, fishing and communications technology. Almost 400 students participate in these training courses annually.
The demand for fisheries training has increased in recent years as a result of additional safety, quality, health and hygiene requirements and the advent of a technology revolution within the industry in terms of the range and sophistication of above and below deck equipment, wheelhouse electronics and fish farm culture techniques. The implementation of the recommendations of the report of the fishing vessel safety review group imposed a number of additional safety requirements which required to be addressed by BIM in its training syllabus. Training is also a vital complement to the whitefish fleet renewal programme. While the take-up of the incentives for new and modernised vessels has been excellent, we must now ensure that the industry avails of the enhanced training programmes to back up that investment. All these factors have had implications for training delivery.
In October last year, the Minister announced details of the first ever cross-Border training initiative aimed at the sea fisheries industry in the Border counties. A sum of £200,000 has been made available under the INTERREG II community initiative to fund the joint training programmes which will be delivered by BIM and the UK's Sea Fish Industry Authority in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Group Training Authority. The training will consist of short courses in marine safety, conservation and fishing gear technology, net mending and food hygiene. Up to 150 fishermen, aquaculturalists, fish distributors and processors are expected to participate in this initiative.
The increased demand for fisheries training, combined with the increased intake of students under the cross-Border initiative, has resulted in a substantial accommodation deficit at the Greencastle centre. BIM has estimated that the existing 1,700 square metres facility needs to be expanded by an additional 650 square metres to address existing overcrowding and to meet additional demand for fisheries training.
A number of initiatives have been undertaken to meet the increased demand for fisheries training generally. First, funding of £500,000 has been provided towards the establishment of a regional fisheries training centre at Castletownbere, County Cork, which was formally opened by the Minister on 12 April. The new centre will be modelled on the existing centre at Greencastle and will offer tuition to international certification standard in seafaring, safety, navigation, electronics, fish farming and other fisheries disciplines. This new training centre will serve the needs of the industry throughout the south-west catchment area. Improved regional and local access to training is a critical part of my objective to enhance safety, quality and competitiveness. The Castletownbere centre, represents, in a very real way, my commitment, and that of BIM to the local provision of high quality service to the catching, aquaculture and processing sector.
The Castletownbere facility will augment the fisheries training programmes at BIM's fisheries training centre at Greencastle and those provided by the two mobile coastal training units, which play a vital role in bringing safety training to fishermen in our more remote coastal locations. I have seen these units in action in Kilmore Quay, County Wexford.
