Mr. Paschal Hayes:

That is very difficult to determine because we do not know what was the loss, in other words, we do not know how many pots were lost in the storm events. The call was put out for applications from anyone who had suffered losses of pots in the adverse weather conditions. We can only assume that anyone who suffered losses submitted an application.

The threshold of 30% turnover seems to be causing a little confusion. This is a bar that applicants must get over, which means that losses must be greater than 30% of average turnover in the preceding three years. It does not mean that grant aid will be limited to 30% of their turnover in the past three years. The thinking behind the threshold is that the loss must be significant and preclude people from seeking compensation for a small loss suffered. The test for significant loss is that it should be greater than 30% of average turnover in the previous three years.

On control and enforcement, the funding in this area is for our control and enforcement services, namely, the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, Naval Service and Air Corps. These are the agencies that already carry out this activity and it is not intended that a new organisation would be established. The funding is to finance the activities of the control and enforcement authorities.

I hope I answered Deputy Pringle's question on the 30% threshold.

As to whether we foresee any applications, while we do not expect applications at this stage, we are still in listening mode. As I indicated, we are consulting our agencies to ascertain whether they foresee any difficulties with it. As the Deputy correctly pointed out, we did not make an application under the previous programme, which ran from 2007 until the present day. At this point, we do not foresee circumstances arising in which we would have to make an application. That said, we are still open to any scenario that people may wish to highlight.