Mr. Séamus Bonner:

As was mentioned, share fishermen are classified as self-employed so, as far as the Department of Social Protection is concerned, they are a business. If share fishermen go out fishing for a few days and do not catch any fish, they do not get paid. It is an uncertain way of having an income. If they go to a bank to get finance for a new outboard engine or something else for their boats, it can be very hard to get access to finance because they do not have a steady income or a salary coming in every month. If they are sick, for example, and go for social welfare, they cannot sign on for jobseeker's allowance or its equivalent for fishermen. There is a P class PRSI stamp they can pay into but because of their uncertain income, many fishermen do not find that to be a viable option. It was thrashed out at length in the 2014 Oireachtas report and one of the agreed recommendations was that the reform should happen. The report is a template for action on many of the issues. We have always said that if these recommendations had been implemented in 2014, things would be a lot better now. We really should revisit the report and try to get the recommendations put into effect.