Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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Question 5: To ask the Minister for Agriculture; Food and the Marine in view of the decision 2012 to allow the National Assets Management Agency to change upward only rent reviews if he will now to act to assist tenants in fishery harbour centres and implement NAMA type initiative. [40345/11]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I have a long reply here which I will not read out, because I want to deal with the issue head-on. The Deputy will be aware of much of what is in the reply. Essentially, we have contractual arrangements with the people who lease properties within fisheries harbours that are owned by my Department, and each case must be dealt with on an individual basis. Most rental leases that were established pre-2008 contain the now infamous upward-only rent review clause. In most cases, we have not used that clause and have agreed not to increase rents since then. In fact, I do not think there has been any increase in rents since 2008. However, I am not sure that is enough. We also have a facility within our Department for people who are struggling to pay their rent in our harbours to establish a payment schedule that may ease that burden, and I encourage people to use that.

I am more than aware of what the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, said on budget day about NAMA's new approach towards businesses that are under pressure due to exorbitantly high rents and that are subject to legal contracts that contain upward-only rent review clauses. He said that NAMA would consider these cases individually with a view to potentially volunteering rent reductions in some cases. I would like to think my Department can do something similar, so I have asked my officials to examine a mechanism that retains a legitimate contract while recognising the fact that upward-only rent reviews should never have been put into contracts.

If someone who is currently renting a property is under significant pressure because of the high rent he or she is paying, which is having a negative impact on his or her business, I do not want to charge him or her more than the current commercial rate through an upward-only rent review clause in his or her contract. I have asked my officials to establish a structure that will allow us to move forward in the way the Deputy is probably seeking. I hope we will have something on that by the end of January.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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I thank the Minister for his response on this important issue. While the upward-only clause has not been invoked, there are many cases in which rents are exorbitant anyway and in which there is a strong case for renegotiation.

There are also cases where tenants have substantial arrears, but that should not be a barrier to the Department entering talks with them. They might be able to examine the possibility of discharging those arrears if they can secure a realistic review of the rent. These are businesses that are at imminent risk of having to close because of the level of rents being imposed by the Department.

There is also a huge imbalance across the country. In Killybegs rents might be four or five times higher than rents in ports on the east coast. The rents do not take account of the geographical location or the market values in those areas. Could the Minister ensure that his officials urgently engage with tenants? If they could start with a clean slate, people could negotiate and perhaps arrive at arrangements that would be better for everybody.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I will try to be helpful on this but a number of important things must be said. First, if there are large arrears outstanding, it is difficult for me to examine a new mechanism for calculating rent until those arrears are paid or there is an agreed payment plan in place to pay them. Nobody should hold back on paying arrears in the expectation of some type of amnesty because we cannot do that realistically. We must operate our fisheries harbours on a commercial basis. If I end up subsidising the cost of running fishing harbours with taxpayers' money, people will not thank me for it.

Let us not forget that these contracts were signed by both parties on a voluntary basis; there was no coercion involved. However, I accept that in some cases there has been a fundamental change in terms of commercial value and rental charges since those leases were signed. We will try to accommodate that change. However, I strongly advise people who have significant arrears with the Department that is very difficult for us to negotiate with anybody with huge lump sums of money outstanding. If a payment plan is put in place for them, we will try to be constructive on the other issues.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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Some people might have mistakenly thought that if they withheld rent or said they could not afford to pay it, it might encourage the Department to enter into talks with them. However, I know from experience that it usually has the reverse outcome. It is important to keep as many businesses open as possible. As the Minister said, the leases were entered into voluntarily at the time but circumstances have changed to a huge degree and I am glad the Minister recognises that. I ask that his officials engage with people on trying to get rid of these legacy issues.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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We need to be careful about some things in this regard. First, anything we do sets a precedent. I cannot have a situation where there will be an expectation that everybody's rent in fisheries harbours will be reduced dramatically. That will not happen. My commitment, however, is that I will not force people who cannot afford it to continue to pay rates that are above what the going rate should be because there happens to be an upward only rent review clause. In other words, I want a fair assessment on a case by case basis. Where people feel they are being unfairly treated and overcharged, and their businesses are in trouble as a result, we wish to show some understanding. However, this is not moving towards some type of amnesty or a 10% reduction across the board or anything similar. We will examine cases and try to put structures in place to take account of that and, at the same time, facilitate the commercial running of fisheries harbours, which is the Department's responsibility.