Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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1207. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to increase the amount of whitefish capacity that can be added to pelagic tonnage from 10% to 30%; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1273/18]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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1208. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans for policy changes to ensure there is more capacity in tonnage and kilowatts available on the open market at affordable prices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1274/18]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1207 and 1208 together.

Under the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2003, the functions of sea-fishing boat licensing were transferred from the Minister to the Licensing Authority for Sea-fishing Boats, which operates on an independent basis subject to criteria set out in that Act and Ministerial Policy Directives.

As Minister I have responsibility for policy in relation to sea-fishing boat licensing under Section 3(3) of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2003, as amended by Section 99 of the Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006.  In this context, as a referred to above, Section 3 of the Act makes provision for Ministerial Policy Directives to issue to the independent Licensing Authority for Sea-fishing boats.  I am, however, precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to individual cases, or a group of cases, with which the Licensing Authority is or may be concerned under Section 3(5) of the 2003 Act.

As the Deputy may be aware I recently carried out a review of the replacement capacity rules for fishing vessels.  I received proposals from a Producer Organisation (PO) which, in summary, related to the possibility of reducing the requirement to provide 100% replacement capacity with the relevant track record to 80% (the balance being sourced from capacity without track record).  I undertook a full public consultation process on these proposals between 9 September 2016 and 28 February 2017, during which 26 submissions were received.

Following this full consideration of the submissions made and this issues arising I issued Ministerial Policy Directive 1 of 2017 to the Registrar General of Fishing Boats under Section 3 of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2003, as amended by Section 99 of the Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006, to amend the requirements for the provision of replacement capacity for vessels in the Tiered (mackerel) and Ring-fenced (herring) portions of the Polyvalent segment to provide that up to a maximum of 10% of the required replacement capacity may be sourced from non-Tiered/non-Ring-fenced vessels in the same sub-segment at a ratio of 1.5:1.  The application of a ratio will help to ensure that any increases in capacity are necessary, sustainable and managed in a manner consistent with the requirement that Ireland continues to meet its obligations with respect to its fleet capacity ceiling at EU level.

As this review was carried out following a full and open public consultation I do not see any basis for reopening this matter.