Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

The lost at sea scheme was a limited scheme introduced in June 2001, with a closing date of 31 December 2001. Its objective was to enable qualifying applicants, who were otherwise unable to do so for financial or related reasons, to continue a family tradition of sea-fishing.

The scheme provided replacement capacity, gross tons and kilowatts, that the applicant would otherwise have had to purchase on the tonnage market, for the purpose of introducing a replacement vessel in respect of fishing boats lost at sea between 1980 and the establishment of the fishing boat register in 1990. The terms of the scheme also specified further conditions pertaining to the use of the capacity once it was deemed eligible. The conditions of the scheme as published were:

"The capacity of a vessel which was lost at sea before the coming into operation of the (Sea Fishing Boat) Register set up by the 1989 Regulations will, as an entirely exceptional measure, be accepted as replacement capacity provided that the Department is fully satisfied, by reference to appropriate documentary evidence, that:

(a) the applicant was the owner and skipper of a registered Irish sea boat which was lost at sea;

(b) the boat in question was lost at sea after 1 January 1980 as a result of an accident, and that such loss has been verified by the emergency services or another independent source acceptable to the Department;

(c) the boat in question is shown, by reference to log sheet returns or other appropriate records, to have been in active and continuous use for a considerable period of years by the person concerned for sea fishing of a category now covered by the replacement policy rules, until its loss at sea;

(d) the lost vessel was the sole means (i.e. the only vessel) of the applicant for engaging in sea fishing;

(e) the applicant was unable, for verified financial or related reasons, to acquire a replacement vessel, or any other registered vessel, before the introduction of the new Register pursuant to the 1989 Regulations;

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