Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We were told that no aid can be provided in respect of loss of and damage to boats. I would like to see a copy of the state aid rules wherein it is stated that in the event of a tremendous storm, state aid cannot be given to people who have lost property that was not insurable.

I understand the following issue is a matter for another Department. The committee will need to bring to the attention of the relevant Minister the issue of fishermen who have not been able to earn any money or obtain social welfare payments for, in some cases, eight weeks or more. People cannot live without money.

I have a number of points to make on this section. First, I believe all gear should be covered. Places where people have stored things for generations were washed away with the tide. It was totally unprecedented so it was not carelessness. For a person who has a lot of pots to move them to other land every year would require him or her to hire a lorry to do that. In many places they are pulled well up from the tide and stored. In fairness to local rural people, they tend to know where the danger lies and how to avoid it. That very few rural houses were flooded is reflective of their ability to know where best to build their homes, in particular, older houses.

Second, to my way of thinking the 40% is totally inadequate in the context of a person having to come up with €3,600 and the number of days fishing required to meet that cost. It is amazing that we can give 90% to a local authority, in respect of which I anticipate a problem will arise, and yet we can give only 40% to fishermen and that even that 40% will be only given in limited circumstances. I believe there should be one limit, namely, 100 pots and a boat under 12 m. The size of a boat is often a factor in the type of sea in which a person fishes. Some fish in big sheltered bays, of which there are many in Connemara. I cannot understand the reason for the differentiation or the reason a person who had 100 pots or a boat under 12 m is not compensated for same. In my view, the percentage is very low.

If I went around the country and asked people who had purchased household furniture in the past four years to produce a receipt for it, I am sure they might not have it. Evidence of purchase of pots that were lost will be hard to come by. While the response may be that the receipts would have been needed for tax returns purposes, many of the people about whom we are speaking have never in their lives filed tax returns. I accept they should, however, have retained them for the purposes of means testing and so on. They often do not realise that a receipt for €100 is as good as a €100 cheque to them. We have to face realities. Many small fishermen do not have these receipts. The Department is aware of how much each of them sold because most of them sell to registered buyers. Is that correct?