Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 223: To ask the Minister for Transport the reason there is such a high cost for surveying fishing boats; the way this figure compares with Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20925/09]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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The survey of fishing vessels of 15 metres length and over is a process that generally involves inspection of the vessel's structure, machinery and safety equipment to ensure compliance with the safety regulations. The vessel will be surveyed while she is in a dry-dock or on a slipway and again when back in the water. An initial survey will involve the carrying out of an inclining experiment to establish the elements of a vessel's stability and an office based analysis of the stability data.

In Ireland for vessels of 15 metres length and over, the Fishing Vessel (Fees) Regulations 2007 as amended is the applicable legislation. These prescribed fees take into account the size of a vessel and the nature of the survey required. There is a reduced scale of fees for vessels that are maintained in classification with a Recognised Organisation. No additional fees apply in relation to the travel and subsistence of the attending surveyor if the survey is carried out within the island of Ireland.

The fees applicable to vessels registered in Northern Ireland are set out in the United Kingdom's Merchant Shipping (Fees) Regulations 2006, as amended. The fee payable for a survey is charged on the basis of an hourly rate of £94 per hour. Additional fees apply where the travelling time of the surveyor is above 4 hours and where the survey location is outside the United Kingdom.

To give an example, the expected time required for an initial survey of a 24 metre vessel would be approximately 40 hours with a fee of €2400 applying for such a survey to be carried out within Ireland. The cost of a survey of the same duration for a fishing vessel in the United Kingdom would be £3760. The Marine Survey Office's experience to date, since the introduction of the various fishing vessel survey regimes in Ireland, is that up to 60 hours may be required to complete the survey of vessels that are not in class with a Recognised Organisation and no extra cost is incurred by the owners under the existing arrangements for such an extended survey.

For fishing vessels of less than 15 metres, there are no comparable survey regimes in operation in the two jurisdictions. In Ireland, a panel of private surveyors who have been approved by my Department carry out the surveys. Fees are not prescribed in legislation and normal commercial practices prevail in respect of the fees that these surveyors charge their customers.