Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am very closely considering this issue. I met a couple of weeks ago or so with a number of inshore fishers and representatives of all the POs which have been established over the past three years. We previously did not have any and now we have two representing the inshore sector, which is really important. They are, however, under a lot of pressure at the moment. I have worked to try to support them as significantly as possible over the past two or three years. Over the past two years, we have run a scheme which delivered between €2,500 and €4,500 for the first time ever to the inshore sector. We are investing significantly in our piers and harbours as well, using the funding we can get from the Brexit adjustment reserve to drive that into piers and harbours funding in order to make sure we have the infrastructure there for the years ahead.

We are also seeing some progress on species which are important to the inshore sector. Last year, we got the spurdog fishery opened for the first time, and this year we have the north-west herring as a commercial fishery for the first time. There is always a contest between different categories of boats as to how that gets shared out, and that can be very contested and disputed. I will work to try to make sure there is as fair an approach to that as possible, but it is always a difficult space. I want to see the inshore sector supported in the time ahead. I am considering what the capacity is as regards the particular market conditions that are there at the moment. I do not believe that anything was ever done in the past to address market conditions. There are restrictions as regards the EMFAF programme, for example, as to how we can use that, but I am exploring that, understanding the impact and income challenges we see in the inshore sector at the moment.

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