Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not know offhand. I can ask my team to revert to the Deputy on that matter. It will all be used. In the coming weeks, I will announce about €258 million in different schemes that will come in over the next few years to support the sector, particularly inshore fishers. The price on 12 February for marine gas oil was 64 cent per litre. Just before the invasion of Ukraine two years ago, it was 62 cent per litre. It is back to the level it was before the invasion of Ukraine albeit prices then were a bit higher than what they would normally have been. We already do not apply any Revenue charges to the fishery sector other than VAT, which, for most fishers, is reclaimable. What the Deputy proposes is that we subsidise and pay for fuel and not only not charge tax but actually pay towards the cost of that fuel. That is a different space altogether. It opens up a set of new considerations, for example, once you start paying for and subsiding something, at what point is that withdrawn? Does it lead to uneconomical fishing and a situation that is less sustainable in the long term? The Deputy is free to put forward a specific proposal in this regard. It would be an entirely different space for the State to go into to subsidise fuel. I am open to hearing what proposals the Deputy would come forward with as to how that would work and the implications in the future.

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