Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is important the skippers and crews of the white fish boats that have been tied up for some three months now, who up to now have not received one cent, which as Deputy Ó Cuív said may be the responsibility of another Department, are provided with some income. I would like to see both Departments working together to ensure that applications for social welfare by these people are fast tracked. Perhaps the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine would confirm to the Department of Social Protection its acceptance that people have not been at sea since mid-December and have had no income whatsoever.

Quite a lot of damage has been caused to boats. Also, many boats sank and need to be raised. Anybody who is familiar with raising boats, in particular from a harbour, repairing it and getting it fit for fishing again will be aware that part of the cost involved in that regard is the hire of cranes from the harbour board to lift boats from the water and the renting of space to carry out the repair works and so on. Could consideration be given to this from a local authority point of view? Local authorities must co-fund projects to the tune of 10%. Could such works be written off as part of that 10%, which would obviously be passed on to boat owners, many of whom will have also lost fishing gear such as gill nets, lobster, shrimp and crayfish pots? Could consideration be given to the writing off of the cost of hire of harbour board cranes and space in respect of the raising and repair work of boats?

Will that be part of the 10% contribution from the local authorities?

Fishermen have lost a considerable amount of gear. Since just before Christmas they have had to put up with nine storms in a row, which is unprecedented in my lifetime. Obviously we do not yet know the extent of the damage from last night's one. There are people who cannot get near their equipment and do not know what they have lost yet. They have not been to sea for weeks and do not know the damage that has been done. In a normal swell whether in shallow water or deep water, people can be fairly certain that the deep water gear would not be badly damaged but shallow water gear would be damaged with a bad swell. However, after what we have been through in the past three to four weeks regardless of the depth of water, there will be huge damage.

It is not just the pots they have lost, but also the damage done to pots that they might be able to recover afterwards. I know people will try to repair pots if possible so that they can go back fishing again. There are caps in support of 50 and 100 pots for vessels of up to 12 m and vessels between 12 m and 15 m. If people have lost 600, 700 or 800 pots, that represents €36,000 to €40,000 worth of fishing gear. We know they are struggling to keep fishing. They are not in a position to replace what they have lost. Further consideration needs to be given regarding compensation for people who have lost all their gear and are not in a position to replace it. It can cost €60, €65 or €70 for soft eye pots. A fisherman who has lost 600 of those is down €36,000. What lending institution will give €36,000 to someone who has been struggling all along to make ends meet? The Department needs to review that to see if something further can be done in that regard.

Those who are fishing and potting over the winter are fishing for the Christmas market and the Easter market. At that time they can get €22 to €24 per kg, whereas in the middle of summer it comes down to €8 to €10 per kg. People take a chance on fishing at that time because that is how they can make the extra few bob. The people involved have been wiped out now. It is not 50 pots they have lost, but 500 to 800 pots. That issue needs to be given more consideration.