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Planning and Development Bill 2023: From the Seanad (9 Oct 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Seanad amendment No. 19 amends section 9 to provide that where the Minister proposes exempted development regulations that are likely to affect the performance of a State authority, the Minister shall consult that State authority before making the regulations. The text as currently written has this as a discretionary consultation, however it is appropriate that any such consultation be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: I thank Ms McSherry, Ms Brennan and Ms O’Sullivan for their opening statement. I have many questions, which I will try to go through as quickly as possible. I will start with the inshore sector because they were the first to contact me. I was at the AGM of the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation. I was invited there on Saturday and got quite a lot of insight into the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: Will that happen very soon?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: I thank Ms O'Sullivan very much. Have the Minister or the Department looked into a yearly financial scheme for inshore fishermen? The Department's ultimate role is to protect fishermen.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: Yes. I am connecting it to the next question. The Minister announced money under the inshore assessment scheme, which was welcome. The inshore fishermen welcomed and appreciated it, but the amount that will be given does not come close to what is needed. There is not a crewman or inshore boat in Ireland that has not lost €10,000 a year in recent years. They are asking for a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: I thank Ms McSherry.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: Many of these guys are self-employed. They spend a lot of time out of the water due to various circumstances. Sometimes, they cannot go out perhaps because of the weather or if they are not allowed to fish for seasonal reasons. Have the team from the Department and the Minister worked with the Department of Social Protection to try to come up with something to bridge the gaps in income for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: I know that, but self-employed people find it very difficult to get it. I will move on because I have a large number of questions. Could the Department tell us if it has tried to source better markets for crab and shrimp?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: I thank Ms Brennan.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: The whole point is that we need to look for new markets. This is a serious issue for the inshore sector going forward. I would appreciate it if the witnesses could furnish me with some information. If we see where we are going, we might be able to work on that. I will move on to pelagic fishermen. Their worst fears were yet again realised last week when ICES advice in respect of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: I see that, unfortunately. It is reckless overfishing by Norway, the Faroe Islands and Iceland. Why can this not be called out? Why can it not be stopped? I cannot answer this question. I have one other question now. I have many more but I might be able to get back in later on. In fairness to BIM, there was great praise for the scheme to provide grant aid to do up vessels. The thing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: I appreciate that. I thank Ms McSherry.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: Brexit has severely impacted the Irish fishing industry, affecting catching, processing and exporting. The loss of quota led to a decommissioning scheme resulting in the loss of 40 boats from the commercial sector. This has significantly harmed fish producer organisations in west Cork, especially the Irish South and West Fish Producer Organisation, ISWFPO, which saw its membership drop from...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: The EU production and marketing funding has not increased in more than ten years despite rising costs. This makes the work of our fish producer organisations unsustainable. When will the Minister and the Department increase funding to account for the increased cost of living and doing business?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: I appreciate that. Do the Minister and the Department recommend that fishermen and women on Irish-registered boats be made eligible for a seafarers' income tax allowance similar to that available to merchant seamen and members of the Irish Naval Service? This differing treatment seems discriminatory. Is that the case?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: Does Ms McSherry have any idea, or can the Minister or the Department confirm, whether such a recommendation was made in advance of budget 2025?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: I am going back to the first question I asked at the beginning. I thank Ms McSherry for answering the questions to the best of her ability. What can fishermen do to turn around the negative feeling that is out there? I know Ms McSherry will say she cannot answer that question but it was the last question asked in Bantry the other day. There is a negative vibe in the world of politics...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Impacting the Fisheries Sector and Aquaculture: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: I will make a final point which does not require an answer. From talking to inshore fishermen and to people in the pelagic sector, I know that they want to fish their way out of these problems. They do not want compensation. They just want to fish but they are not allowed in our water.

Planning and Development Bill 2023: From the Seanad (9 Oct 2024)

Seanad amendment No. 1 agreed to.