Mr. Robert McCabe:

Let me add briefly to what Mr. Kelly said. It is not a simple issue, as was evident when the working group examined it. As Mr. Kelly mentioned, safety underpins it all. I do not believe anybody would like to interfere with that, but a range of other issues arose, associated, for instance, with the existence of any loans or grants and the status of equipment fitted to a vessel moved off the fishing register. Issues can arise over quota that are way beyond my understanding but that experts in fishing tell me could have implications for a vessel because quota is attached to it. While we did map out the current process, it was agreed by the working group that we probably would not progress further in trying to find changes because they were quite complex, even though the offshore wind energy industry would welcome the availability of additional vessels and the fishing industry would welcome the extra few bob.

There was one good outcome from that process: a course running in the NMCI, Cork, to qualify fishing vessel crews as masters of vessels of less than 500 gross tonnage. I am not claiming our working group alone achieved this but we had a good input into it. It will have positive impact. The first class – of 11, I think – finished late last year, and the second class may well be up and running now for all I know. If it is not, it will be shortly. It is funded by Green Tech Skillnet, with funding through the industry. Therefore, there are some good outcomes but the change is quite complex.