Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

80. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is aware that only 52 persons have availed of fish assist across the State as of 31 May 2025; and if the Minister of State with responsibility for the marine and his Department officials will now engage with the representative POs for inshore and islands fishermen to discuss a financial support or subsidy scheme for the sector. [36266/25]

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is aware that only 52 persons have availed of fish assist across the State as of 31 May 2025; and if the Minister of State with responsibility for the marine and his Department officials will now engage with the representative producer organisations, POs, for inshore and islands fishermen to discuss a financial support or subsidy scheme for the sector.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Deputy for the question. As he knows, the operation of the fish assist scheme is a matter for the Department of Social Protection. The primary source of funding for the Irish commercial seafood sector, including inshore and island fishermen and fisherwomen, is Ireland's seafood development programme, which is co-funded by the Irish Government and the European Commission under the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund, EMFAF, 2021-2027. The measures which are eligible for aid are set out in the regulation governing the implementation of the EMFAF regulation, which is aligned with the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy. There is no provision for direct income supports in relation to primary producers in the seafood sector under the Common Fisheries Policy. The EMFAF regulation does not make provision for the use of EMFAF funds to provide income supports to primary producers in the seafood sector.

Equally, there is no provision in the relevant EU regulations governing state aid that would allow any Exchequer-funded subsidy scheme for the seafood sector or for fishermen, in particular. I note the Deputy's question revolves principally around the ability of fishermen and fisherwomen to engage with the Department of Social Protection on that. I assure the Deputy that whatever we can do on engaging with that sector, we are happy to do so. By the Deputy raising the question today, it has the capacity to highlight to those people who work in this sector that there is aid and support there, as there is with farm assist, which is again administered through the Department of Social Protection.

I am happy to assist in disseminating that information. It may be something that can be done through press releases by all of us to remind those who find themselves in difficult circumstances that the supports of the Department of Social Protection are there to assist all concerned.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Minister. The figures are glaring. There are 13,000 active fishermen in the State and the idea that only 52 of them are need in of support is absurd. There is a disconnect. No one can seriously claim the sector is not under pressure. My understanding and sense of it from the figures, which back this up, is the fish assist scheme is too restrictive and limited. It is not that fishermen and fisherwomen are not aware of it - they know about it - but it is too limited, restrictive and it is not fit for purpose. That is why they are not applying but the need is there. The need is in every coastal community and we see it.

Inshore and island fishing communities have been systemically starved of opportunity, denied a fair share of the fish in their own waters and Government policy has failed them again and again but they are not asking for handouts. These are proud people. They are asking for a viable future. They are asking for proper financial support or a subsidy scheme of some sort that reflects the reality of that situation. The Minister of State and I know it is needed. Will the Minister of State engage with the Minister for Social Protection on foot of this question and debate and collectively take action?

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

As I outlined in my initial response to the Deputy, it is not possible to apportion any of the funding available to our Department through EMFAF to the income support he talks about. As he knows, and as is the case with farm assist, income support comes through the Department of Social Protection. While that does not fall within my responsibility, I am happy to have a conversation with the Minister, Deputy Calleary, on that. I am also conscious that the supports that are generally available through the Department of Social Protection are funds for individuals in really difficult circumstances. They are not seen as income support. They are really a means to allow individuals to get through a really difficult time, whether it be fluctuations of income or whatever. They are means tested and not really designed to be income supports. I am happy to communicate with the Minister but I do not want to give the Deputy false hope either.

The Deputy talks about the disparity between the numbers of those who are engaged in the sector and those who are drawing down those income supports. I am conscious that no more than in farming, there are some part-time fishermen and fisherwomen who operate in that sector and have income from other sources so their combined income would certainly put them outside the threshold of means testing. It is important to put that on the record as well.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Minister. To his credit, I know he is engaging with the sector and he has heard from fishermen around the coast.

However, the figures still speak for themselves, notwithstanding that some may be disqualified on income grounds. Some may not need the scheme but we know there is great hardship in the sector. This is not necessarily about creating a new subsidy from EMFAF funding; it is about making the existing scheme work for fishermen. The feedback we are getting and the figures released to my colleague Pádraig Mac Lochlainn in response to his parliamentary question to the Department of Social Protection back that up.

Fishing communities are on their knees in many respects and fishing activity is under huge pressure. The input costs for fisheries are going up. Those concerned have asked time and again for a fuel scheme to help to ease the pressure but the Minister of State’s predecessor refused it time and again. The Minister of State says the door is open and the community has his ear. His engagement is really welcome but we need it to inform not just his work and that of his Department but also that of the whole of government to ensure we will have a sustainable fishing industry.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I recognise that. When I was before the committee chaired by Deputy McGuinness recently, I informed it that I have asked an outside interlocutor to work with the sector generally. Mr. Kieran Mulvey has accepted the role of working with all stakeholders in the sector to identify areas where we can assist and develop a way forward or pathway as part of a strategy that the Department will develop under the programme for Government.

The Department has significantly improved the financial supports available to the inshore fleet in the past year, having implemented a number of schemes to specifically support inshore fishers and improved the aid rates available. These schemes include the small-scale coastal fisheries schemes, which provide unprecedented enhanced grants of up to 80% to inshore fishers for both onboard and onshore investment. Grants of 100% are now in place for inshore fishermen and women participating in the lobster V-notching scheme. An innovative scheme to support the economic development of the inshore fishing fleet, the inshore fleet economic assessment scheme, was put in place in 2024.

Inshore fishers can also access supports under other schemes, such as the fleet safety scheme and the seafood training scheme. All these schemes are administered on behalf of my Department through BIM, as the Deputy knows. Further details on them are available from me. I am happy to continue to work with the sector to try to provide the most support possible, recognising that there are constraints set out in both domestic and European law.