Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will try to go through some of the issues that were raised.

Senator O'Donovan welcomed the fuel subsidies and recognised that this had a particular impact on certain sectors. Obviously, a lot of the pelagic vessels carried out their fishing effort in January and February, with some in March. The scheme seeks to pick the point at which prices started to escalate, which is March to July. I will come back to Senator Wilson in that regard. The polyvalent and the whitefish sectors seem to have been most impacted as well as, obviously, the inshore sector. A lot of the latter's effort is on shellfish, and we are anxious to try to address that.

I know Senator O'Donovan spoke on behalf of Senator Boyle, and he made a valid point about the engineering companies and capabilities in Killybegs that have been impacted by the reduced fishing opportunities over recent years. That certainly is challenging. Not long after my appointment, I got permission, with the support of the Minister, Deputy Heydon, to take on consultant Kieran Mulvey to look at the entire sector to see how we can best address its concerns and if we can provide some State supports for the long-term viability of the fishing sector, recognising that fishing opportunities have reduced, quite frankly, due to climate change and overfishing, but also that stocks are depleted.

Senator Collins mentioned deals in Brussels and quota reductions. Quotas get reduced for a reason. It is not that somebody else gets the fish; it is that the fish are not there and, in an effort to conserve the biomass and regenerate the stocks, a conservation approach is taken. That has been challenging, particularly because of the way climate change is impacting fish in our waters, which are moving out of European waters and further north. There is good conservation work going on as well, and I am sure I will be in the House again talking about marine protected areas on the other side of the work I do on the marine environment.

I thank Senator Wilson for his comments on behalf of Senator Blaney. They are noted and recognised. He talked about a couple of things, and I know others have mentioned one of them to me as well. It is important we do not have a delay in the payments. We are finalising a scheme. We want to simplify it as best we can. We will open it up, through BIM, to the fishing operators. We know that fishermen keep good records. They have to from the perspective of their tax and for the SFPA. The scheme will be based on receipts for fuel paid, and fishers will all have that because they keep these records. They put them together at the end of the year in terms of their tax affairs as well. I want to ensure that there is some flexibility, that if somebody was not able to operate last year, for whatever reason, we would look at the activity in 2024. However, there will need to be a recognition that you need to be fishing this year, so we will have to put in place some criteria whereby somebody who finished off fishing last year and is not fishing this year does not get money, because the more anyone in that position gets, the less there is for those who are actively out there fishing. We are trying to be fair. We want the scheme to be simplified insofar as we can, we want to get money out to people who are buying fuel at record prices and we want to find supports. However, in the flexibility we will also have to be conscious that it is taxpayers' money we are spending and it needs to go to those who are impacted and try to ensure they are covered.

I take the points Senators Wilson and Blaney have raised. I will see Senator Blaney soon because I will be in Greencastle tomorrow meeting the co-op up there and fishermen generally. We believe they have the paperwork, so that will be relatively straightforward.

Senator Collins raised the point - and I take her point that she understands the issue - that this is too little to late. It is as much as we can get. I think we have a good deal for the fishermen, actually. Is it too late? I do not accept that charge because we are backdating this to March, which is when the price shock came into place, and it is onwards to July.It is certainly not too late now. I have to make sure that we get the money out quickly. It is a good deal. That is certainly the response I am getting from the fishermen.

I am also conscious that the sector is in trouble, as I think all speakers have indicated. We are challenged. That is why I wanted in the early stages to see whether we could put in some supports to protect the regional nature of the activity and the coastal communities that many of these operate in. For many of the smaller inshore fishermen, it is hand to mouth, but it is keeping a couple of processors going as well in the areas. It is keeping restaurants going and it is keeping life in these areas. It is critical to me that this trickle-down effect benefits so many.

I am also conscious of marine tourism. Marine tourism is driven by the fact that there is picturesque scenery in many of these harbours, but that picture comes at a price to the people who are fishing. They are providing the backdrop and the entertainment, if you want, and the beautiful vistas we see in many of these harbours. We are supporting those harbours as well through some funding, but those boats would not be there for the nice pictures that get taken when the marine tourism comes along without the hard work of these people who are on a viability threshold. That is certainly not encouraging the generational renewal we would want to see. I come from a small farm. I have seen how that has played out over the years and how things have improved in the agricultural sector with prices. They are stretched again, but there has been a period of reasonable stability there. We certainly can get back to that.

Senator Duffy raised some the exact same points about the necessity for flexibility and how we can manage to get funding out to them. He talked about the necessity to simplify the scheme insofar as we can and get money out to ensure that people get back doing what they are doing and fishing because we certainly do not want boats tied up when there are fish to be caught. That does keep the processors going, and it keeps people coming to restaurants in the localities as well. I thank the Senators for their interest. I hope to be in a position to have greater detail in the very near future and that BIM will be in a position to open up the scheme and we get that money out as quickly as possible.