Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We discussed this issue at length a few hours ago at the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Deputy Mac Lochlainn is correct. I have been working closely and listening to the fishing representatives on this issue for a long time. I met with them shortly after the illegal invasion of Ukraine to discuss this issue. They requested specifically of me that I would do a second month tie-up scheme this year to support the challenges with fuel for the whitefish fleet. I delivered promptly on that.

It began in June and will run until the end of November, and it is delivering €12 million into the sector to support the challenges relating to fuel. That is on top of the one month recommended by the seafood task force to respond specifically to Brexit.

As I have said to the fishing representatives throughout, I am continuing to monitor the situation. Fuel prices have gone up and down. For a few weeks, they looked as though they were going to fall a bit but they have spiked again. I met representatives of the producer organisations last week and representatives of the fishing co-operatives earlier today. I am assessing the situation with fresh eyes, particularly in light of the fact the scheme I have in place is due to run out at the end of November.

It is a difficult time. Marine gas oil is different from most other fuels in that there is no excise duty on it, so there is nothing to reduce in that regard, and the VAT is fully refundable. The EU has given capacity to member states to draw funding down from its European maritime funding allocation to put towards that specifically but that would mean taking funding out of other purposes for which it could be used to support the sector, specifically for short-term liquidity aid. It is not something I would do lightly, but I have been monitoring the issue closely and am reassessing it in light of the situation.

See this speech in context