Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 9 October 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

5:30 pm

Photo of Michael FitzmauriceMichael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I am not going to say I am an expert on fishing but, when you talk to fishermen, no more than on all sides of it, with farmers and such, the amount of paperwork involved is one thing you will hear about. There is a scheme some people were offered under which they could cut up their boat. Why are we going down that road? When you look at the statistics on the number of people or the number of boats that were in Ireland ten, 20 or 30 years ago, for someone looking at it from the outside, it is an industry that has progressively fewer people involved in it. That is not a good thing, to be frank about it. Is there anything to make us more proactive in getting more people involved in it, rather than giving them money to cut up a boat and get out of it?