Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim céad fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit agus táim thar a bheith dó as ucht an t-am a thógáil le teacht isteach leis an rún seo ar an Athló a phlé, rún ar an téama céanna maidir leis an damáiste a rinne na stoirmeacha, ach ó thaobh an ciste cúitimh d'iascairí beaga. The Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes, is very welcome. I thank him for coming to the House. We are following on the theme of the recent storms but focusing on a different element of what took place.

I spent much of the past week or so walking the highways and byways of Connemara and Galway looking at the damage, which in many cases was devastating. One issue that came to light is the situation in which small fishermen find themselves. I spoke to people who are in their 80s who said they had never seen anything like the damage that was done and the type of storm we saw in recent weeks. Among the casualties were fishermen, some of whom had their boats and pots well away from the pier but they found that even that was not enough to protect them. Their boats have been damaged, gear has been lost and engines have been damaged. In a number of cases, slipways and piers have been badly damaged. The extent of the damage to the infrastructure of the piers will not be apparent for a number of weeks or months. Structural engineering audits of piers must be carried out to see whether damage has been done to their bases.

Much of the focus to date has been on the response of county councils, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and the OPW among others. Fishermen find themselves in a much more difficult situation. Small fishermen in particular have been finding it hard to make ends meet. A joint Oireachtas committee compiled a report on fishing and a group visited the island of Inis Oírr in County Galway. One of the main findings of the report is that more support must be given to smaller inshore fishermen with boats under 10 m. Many of those fishermen have found their livelihood is in serious jeopardy because of the damage done to boats and gear. The gear of a small number of fishermen has been severely damaged and their livelihood is in jeopardy.

Could the Minister of State indicate whether an emergency fund is available to help reinstate the boats, gear and lost pots due to what has been described as a perfect storm? The swell, full moon and spring tide all came together in conjunction with the wind to do untold damage. In most cases the fishermen do not have the financial wherewithal to cover the cost of replacing their gear. Last year when there was a fodder crisis the Government was rightly able to introduce measures to alleviate the pressure on farmers. Small fishermen are in an equally bad position. If they do not get help they will not be able to resume fishing. That is the bottom line. We need to keep as many men as possible fishing in their boats on the sea. I hope the Minister of State will have positive news for me.