Mr. Michael Keatinge:

I wish to make a number of points. Sadly, there has been one death in the fishing sector this year in Ireland. A fisherman was lost in Galway Bay late in the summer. The good story, perhaps, is that this is the lowest year on record. Indeed, so far this year the Irish fishing industry is the safest in Europe. On the safety area, we are working on a programme to roll out safety signage at all the harbours and ports around the country. With regard to the FLAGs in particular, we are supporting co-operation projects with the county councils. Apart from Howth, Dunmore East, Castletownbere, Dingle, Rossaveal and Killybegs, all the other harbours are managed by the county councils. It is a major task but as I travel around the coast, and I do so every weekend, I see the changes taking place. Piers are being repaired. I visit the little pier at Kilkieran Bay all the time, where there is seaweed harvesting and inshore fishing. A small investment like that can be the difference between that harbour ending and jobs being lost. However, the FLAG budget of €12 million is limited. We can do, and have done, certain types of projects with county councils. In Greencastle, for example, we installed the chair lift to enable disabled sailors to participate in sport. However, completing a multimillion euro project such as that mentioned is beyond our scope.

The Department has a direct role in six fishery harbour centres. Putting it bluntly, and we know the facts in this regard, there has been major investment in the new harbour in Killybegs. It is one of the finest fishery harbours in Europe and it has meant that we continue to attract foreign vessels. They always fished off our coasts but they now come here and land. Deputy Pringle and I attended the opening of the new fishmeal plant there. This is a €30 million investment by Norway, in particular, without any State assistance. It will guarantee jobs and improve environmental confidence in the plant. It is really making the statement that Killybegs is going to stay in place. Likewise, there has been a major development in the fishery harbour in Rossaveal that will attract additional landings. There has been major investment in Castletownbere Dinish Island, making it a premier port in the south west. Dunmore East has had a major dredging programme in the last number of years and major work has been done in Clogherhead. The new pier there was completed five or six years ago. The Greencastle project is under way. Yes, we would like to see it finished tomorrow, but hopefully it will be finished in due course.

There has been major investment. With regard to the very small harbours, in the last seven years it has been challenging for everybody to find funds, not least the county councils. My personal experience is that things are getting done and I believe the FLAG programme can assist that. Of course we would like to see more of that type of activity into the future. We are supporting co-operation with county councils for developments in a local area, provided that is what the locals want.

With regard to Leader, we sit on the Leader evaluation committees and they work with us. I am unashamed to tell the committee that we wish to carve out a unique identity. We want fisheries local action groups to be in place and proud of it. That is not to say there is any competition. We do not see them as just another little Leader. We want them to be quite unique in what they are achieving. We are probably unique in the European Union and this is possibly why we are a little slow to get it up and going. On a map of the UK there is a FLAG programme in Wales and one goes all the way around to south Devon before seeing a little FLAG which covers approximately 20 miles. There is another FLAG somewhere south of London. Ireland refused to do that and decided that every inch of our coastline with the exception of the cities, where it is not allowed, would have a FLAG. We were saying that every fisherman in Ireland will be in a FLAG, so it was a bigger challenge. I believe we have done the right thing. There is no fishing community in Ireland that cannot participate in the FLAG programme. It is something of which we should be justifiably proud. The European Union has looked at our model and has recognised that it can work very well.