Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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611. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of fishermen and women that have availed of the Covid-19 tie-up payment by each category of the scheme and in absolute and relative terms to the estimate total eligible number of boats. [13510/20]

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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In line with Government policy to maintain food supply chains throughout the Covid-19 Pandemic, from the outset Government classified fishermen as essential workers and kept our fishery harbours open.  However, our fishermen have faced difficult market conditions over recent months with market access very difficult and prices for many species depressed.  We are now in a transition period where, with the re-opening of economies and societies in Europe and elsewhere worldwide, market conditions and prices are improving.  However, we still have a volatile market situation and to assist with stabilising the market for our fishermen during this transition period the Voluntary Fleet Tie-up Scheme is available, so that those vessel owners who consider that it is not economically viable for them to fish can voluntarily tie-up in port for a one or two month period over the three months June to August.  The Tie-up Scheme is intended as an additional safety net to complement the income supports available from Government for fishermen in that situation and is providing aid to cover the fixed costs of those vessels that choose to tie-up.

In its first month of operation, June 2020, some 67 vessels out of 1,984 vessels in the fleet chose to voluntarily tie-up.  This meant that it was pleasing to see that the vast majority of our fleet considered markets had improved to the extent that fishing was considered more economically viable than recourse to this safety net scheme.  . 

The breakdown by size category for June requested by the Deputy is set out below.  For July, the deadline for applications was 19 June and BIM is still examining these applications to determine eligibility under the Scheme. The Scheme is still open for applications for August.