Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 July 2020
494. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a fishing licence will be granted to a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16539/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2003 transferred the functions of sea-fishing boat licensing from the Minister to the Licensing Authority for Sea-fishing Boats, which operates on an independent basis subject to criteria set out in that Act and Ministerial Policy Directives. The Licensing Authority is the Registrar General of Fishing Boats, an official of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine or, under the superintendence of the Registrar General, the Deputy Registrar General of Fishing Boats. All applications for sea-fishing boat licences are considered by the Licensing Authority.
I have made enquiries of the Registrar General who advises me that an application has been received from the individual. This has been duly processed, and a letter of offer issued to them by post on 5th May. The offer of a licence conveyed in respect of the vessel is subject to compliance with certain conditions including, inter alia, requirements for the applicant to prove ownership of the vessel, to satisfy safety requirements and to provide replacement capacity in the form of gross tonnes and kilowatts for the relevant segment or sub-segment at a ratio of 1:1 under the strict EU entry/exit regime.
Capacity in the form of gross tonnage and engine power is not an asset owned by the Department or by the Licensing Authority. It is a privately-owned tradable asset that, with certain exceptions, may be sold, traded or realised as a financial asset on the tonnage market. Only off-register capacity (i.e. capacity from a vessel which has been removed from the Fishing Boat Register) may be sold or traded etc. All transfers of capacity must be approved by the Licensing Authority.
Under fleet segmentation/sub-segmentation rules provided for in Ministerial Policy Directives, capacity being used to introduce (i.e. license and register) a vessel must be taken out of the same segment or sub-segment into which the vessel is being introduced. The transfer of capacity between Segments and Sub-segments is prohibited.
Following compliance by the applicant of all of the licence offer conditions, a non-operative licence will be issued in order for the vessel to be entered on the Register of Fishing Boats and to be licensed to fish on receipt of an endorsed registration application from a Local Registrar of Shipping.
