Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 244: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if the remainder of the tonnage required for one boat will be transferred to another and once this is done that the boat would be de-registered. [18186/05]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 245: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources when a tonnage (details supplied) will be transferred from one boat to another boat. [18187/05]

Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 244 and 245 together.

Under the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2003, the functions of sea-fishing boat licensing and registration were transferred from the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to the licensing authority for sea-fishing boats, which operates on an independent basis, subject to criteria set out in that Act. All applications for sea-fishing boat licences are considered by the licensing authority for sea-fishing boats. The head of the licensing authority is the registrar general of fishing boats, a senior official in the Department.

The licensing authority has informed me that the individual concerned applied for a sea-fishing boat licence under the terms of a special scheme introduced in the mid 1990s for the licensing and registration of small fishing boats. A licence was not granted in respect of the vessel due to safety defects. The applicant proposed licensing an alternative vessel under the scheme, under which replacement capacity was not required to be provided but because this boat is larger than the original, she was advised in February 2003 that the difference in capacity — in terms of tonnage and engine power — between the two boats would have to be provided by way of replacement capacity prior to licensing.

The remainder of the capacity required to be provided could be transferred from the other boat referred to by the Deputy, which has already been removed from the fishing boat register. However, it should be noted that under licensing policy, this off-register capacity must be brought back on to the register before the end of this year; otherwise the entitlement to use it would be lost. To transfer the capacity to the applicant's replacement vessel, it is necessary that a capacity assignment form be completed by the relevant parties and forwarded to the licensing authority.

The licensing authority will issue a non-operative licence in respect of the applicant's vessel, subject to compliance with any other conditions of current licensing policy, such as the provision of a declaration of compliance with a code of practice relating to safety of the vessel. The non-operative licence would allow the vessel owner to have the boat registered, following which the licensing authority can issue an operative sea-fishing boat licence. Subsequently, it would be open to the vessel owner to apply to the licensing authority at any stage to have her boat removed from the register.

John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 246: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources further to correspondence (details supplied), if his attention has been drawn to the fact that a two tier system seems to operate with derogations given to other cases. [18313/05]

Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The two cases to which the correspondence to which the Deputy referred are entirely different in nature, the consideration of which involved totally different criteria and circumstances in the context of sea-fishing boat licensing.

The individual to whom the Deputy specifically refers applied for a licence in respect of a vessel under a special whitefish scheme in 1991. All applications received under the scheme were evaluated in accordance with defined criteria and the particular individual's application was not among those approved for a licence. He subsequently reapplied for a licence and was informed by the Department that a licence could only be granted when all of the requirements of licensing policy, including the removal of replacement capacity from the fishing boat register, were complied with.

The other case relates to an application made by the company concerned, under EU legislation in place at the time, which provided for the introduction of additional capacity into the EU fleet, where additional fishing opportunities were identified. The licensing and registration of the vessel concerned was facilitated by a decision of the European Commission to grant additional capacity in respect of the Irish pelagic fleet segment, to take account of fishing opportunities in Mauritanian and other West African waters. The decision followed intensive negotiations at political and official level, mainly relating to the resolution of an engine power capacity excess problem in the pelagic segment, which had not been caused by the company concerned. Replacement capacity was not required to be provided in respect of the vessel in question as the European Commission allocated additional capacity, over and above existing fleet capacity limits, which allowed for its introduction. The company withdrew its other vessel from the fleet in order to resolve the excess engine power capacity situation, which the Commission had insisted first be resolved.

New EU legislation governing fleet policy was introduced in 2002-03, which was followed in November 2003, by the introduction at national level of a comprehensive and transparent new national licensing policy. The Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2003, which came into effect on 1 July 2003, transferred responsibility for sea-fishing boat licensing to the licensing authority for sea-fishing boats, which operates on an independent basis, subject to criteria set out in that Act. All applications for sea-fishing boat licences are now considered by the licensing authority for sea-fishing boats. The head of the licensing authority is the registrar general of fishing boats, a senior official in the Department. The 2003 Act also established an independent appeals system relating to licensing decisions subsequently taken.