Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I will start at the end. I have been to Castletownbere, and I will go there again. I have been in Castletownbere two or three times - two certainly - and I brought the Commissioner to an event in Castletownbere. There are two I have not been to, namely, Dingle and Dunmore East, but I will visit them and I will continue that engagement.

On the poorly drafted schemes, BIM works with us very closely in the Department and manages quite a number of schemes in terms of supports, promotion, training and all of that kind of thing. It engages very openly with the industry. From time to time, some of the terms and conditions do not suit everybody and we try, and BIM tries wherever it can, but there are certain rules that we have to obey at European level in terms of the audit control. It is under the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund, EMFAF, that many of these schemes are funded and, therefore, we must be mindful that there are rules and regulations that come with that, and we have to watch it. We are always open to work with the industry, however. People contact me about certain schemes they have issues with and we try to work through that.

The Senator talked about the ongoing funding of the fisheries sector, and it varies significantly from year to year. In the year of Brexit, there was a significant upside in terms of the supports that were put in. Some years have greater demands than others. Some of it is to do with capital infrastructure. Sometimes, people are finishing one scheme and they do not have a contractual commitment the next year for an extension of a harbour or a pier. We are currently undergoing significant upgrade of the facilities at Howth. We thought we would have completed the project at Rossaveel but there were some planning issues and there were some appeals through the courts and we had to go back for planning. Some moneys that will ultimately have to be expended there are not necessarily included in this year's round of capital funding but will be on the books next year. It is not just about a downward or upward graph in relation to funding.

It is based on the needs and demands the Department has in a particular year. We negotiate with the Departments of Finance and public expenditure on that. I am confident that we have an adequate amount of money to get us through on the basis of our contractual commitments, needs and vision. Could we do with extra money? Always. We would find something to spend it on, but we have to mindful about the overall Government code on spending. We had a pretty robust engagement through the Estimates process this year. I am content with what we succeeded in achieving. I thank the officials for the work they did in assist us in that regard.