Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

During the discussions on coming up with a scheme, what was the Department's knowledge of how many people were badly affected? I am talking about those who have lost 300, 400 or 500 pots. This weather was forecasted and some people took pots out of the water in advance of the bad weather because they knew it was going to be serious. As Dr. Beamish said, some of them took them in and stored them appropriately on the quays and piers and they still got lost. Some people on the south-east coast did not get a chance to bring them in because there was a search going on for an unfortunate colleague who was lost at sea. Many people were punished for doing the right thing in many ways.