Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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621. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine for an update on his Department’s work to support Ireland’s sea fisheries sector. [36003/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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A range of supports and services are provided to the Irish fleet under Ireland’s €258 million Seafood Development Programme, which is co-funded by the Irish government and the European Commission under the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) 2021 - 2027. These include the valuable work undertaken by the Marine Institute to support the sustainable management of our fisheries, and the supports and services provided directly to industry by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), which, in addition to its technical and advisory services, also administers the grant aid schemes for industry.

In 2024 and the year-to-date, investments of over €6,660,000 have been secured by fishers under the Sustainable Fisheries, Small Scale Coastal Fishers and Inshore Fleet Economic Assessment schemes. These investments include cutting-edge technologies to drive down costs from solar powered on-shore live holding tanks, integrated on-board systems such as fish washing and gutting equipment enhancing sustainable production and fish quality, to value-adding systems including refrigerated vans transporting catch from vessel to market. Further supports are also available to the fleet under the Seafood Training Scheme.

In particular my Department has significantly improved the financial supports available to the inshore fleet in the past year, implementing a number of schemes to specifically support inshore fishers and improving the aid rates available under these schemes. These include the Small-scale Coastal Fisheries Scheme, which provides unprecedented enhanced grant rates of up to 80% to inshore fishers for both on-board and on-shore investment; the Lobster V-notching Scheme, a conservation scheme for lobster which is an important stock for our inshore fishers with grant rates of 100% for inshore fishers participating in this scheme; and an innovative scheme to support the economic development of the inshore fishing fleet was put in place in 2024 - the Inshore Fleet Economic Assessment Scheme.

In 2024, 225 fishers in some 80 locations were awarded a total of €568,000 in grant aid under the Lobster V-notching Scheme. This resulted in more than 47,000 adult lobsters being safely returned to the sea – which is the highest number on record. These lobsters will produce over 352 million lobster larvae to maintain the population in their first year after v-notching.

In addition to the EMFAF funded schemes, BIM also administers a national Fleet Safety Scheme which is open to vessels of all sizes. This scheme grant aids investments to improve the overall safety standards on board vessels.

BIM has a number of resources for fishers available on its website: ‘Fishermen’s Health Manual’; ‘Supports for Ireland’s Fisheries Sector’; and ‘Getting more for your catch – Guide to food safety and direct sales’. Further information in relation to all of the above is available at www.bim.ie/fisheries.

The Programme for Government sets down an ambitious programme of actions that promote a sustainable seafood industry and I am committed to building on the progress that has been made to secure a sustainable future for our fishing industry and the coastal communities which depend upon it.

I can assure the Deputy that this Government is committed to addressing the challenges facing our seafood sector and my colleague Minister of State Timmy Dooley continues to pursue all opportunities to increase the fishing opportunities for Ireland’s fishing fleet.