Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 October 2026
1. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will work with the representatives of inshore fishermen to introduce an inshore fisheries stabilisation and climate adaptation scheme; and if he has engaged with the European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis, or his office to make the case for such a scheme. [70178/26]
View answerThe question is clear. We have raised this in every single priority question for months. It is the issue of the inshore fisheries legalisation and climate adaptation scheme. This has come from the National Inshore Fishermen's Association, NIFA, on behalf of inshore fishermen throughout the State. The fishermen have never asked for this before; they have only wanted to fish. However, they are and have been at crisis point and we need a dedicated scheme. What the Government is doing about it?
I thank the Deputy for this question. I send apologies on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, who is at the Atlantic Summit Galway event, participating in it with Commissioner Kadis, which is very important.
As the Deputy will be aware, the Minister of State has met with the NIFA. The Minister of State and I have engaged with other representatives of the inshore sector on several occasions throughout the year. We are very aware of the challenges facing the inshore fisheries sector.
Ireland’s €258 million Seafood Development Programme 2021-2027, which is co-funded by the Government and the EU Commission under the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund, EMFAF, is the primary source of funding for the Irish commercial seafood sector, including the inshore sector. My Department has reviewed all funding mechanisms available, either through the seafood development programme or other state aid routes to ascertain if there was a possibility to introduce a financial stabilisation scheme for inshore fishermen. Ireland, as an EU member state, is required to comply with the state aid regulations. The European Commission oversees the application of state aid rules among member states. Failure to comply with state aid rules, such as a failure to provide notification to the European Commission or implementing the aid without approval, can result in the member state being required to recover any aid provided. These rules also provide for added interest to be applied.
As the managing authority for the EMFAF programme in Ireland, a range of projects and industry supports to the inshore sector are already provided by agencies of the Department under the programme. These include the seafood training scheme, seafood capacity building scheme, young fisher scheme and the small-scale coastal fisheries scheme. The seafood capacity building scheme and the seafood training scheme are open, with the small-scale coastal fisheries scheme due to reopen in mid-October 2026.
In addition to the above, a scheme specifically for the inshore fleet was implemented in 2024 and 2025 under the seafood development programme: the inshore fleet economic assessment scheme. I will go into more detail on what is to happen next in supplementaries.
I am going to be honest and frank with the Minister. That is an absolutely shocking response.
That is the first part of the response.
For months, I have asked: is the Minister going to engage with the EU Commissioner on this matter? We have been told through the NIFA, which has engaged directly with the EU Commissioner, that there is no barrier to this but there has to be a case made by the Irish Government. It is clear from the Minister's response that has not been done.
I am absolutely shocked - unless the Minister has a follow-up response in a minute - that he has not actually asked the Commissioner if can we do this. Our inshore fishermen are in crisis. I am completely exasperated because I have raised this for months. The Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, must know the scale of the crisis for inshore fishermen all around the coast in terms of fuel, baits and the instability of market prices. The Minister is reading the responses written by Department officials. He and the Minister of State are political leaders. They need to be engaging with the European Commissioner. The Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, is with the Commissioner today. Could the Minister lift the phone whenever he is finished here, ring the Minister of State and ask him to raise this issue with the Commissioner today and get the funding for inshore fishermen that they desperately need?
With the greatest respect to the Deputy, the response I have given is the first of three. We have two supplementaries here, so we will get to that. The point I was going to get to is that as part of our budget negotiations, I secured €20 million towards the Berkery report. We see that pretty much as a half-year allocation on the basis of using that money towards some existing schemes, but also looking at new opportunities as well. The intention of the additional fund is to expand the current seafood development programme schemes and establish future support schemes for the seafood sector, taking into consideration some of the models that were successfully implemented under the Brexit adjustment reserve, BAR, programme and adapting them as appropriate to the policy objective ultimately agreed by the Government - those of us who are the policymakers, to take up the point made by the Deputy. The scheme was developed by the Department under the BAR regulation and includes direct transition supports for fishing vessels, seafood processors, aquaculture enterprises, fishery co-operatives and the wider coastal and blue economy together with capital here as well. We have the Berkery report, and we secured additional funding and the inshore sector is an integral part of that and it is going to be part of the solution.
The problem is that an announcement was made in the budget of €20 million. When we consider the scale of the crisis in our fishing community, that would not even scratch the surface. The problem is also that the inshore fishermen and the islands fishermen do not have a clue if there is anything in the Berkery report for them. Inshore fishermen suspect there is nothing in that report for them. We have a situation where 2,000 licence-holders - inshore fishermen - do not have a clue if there is going to be any financial support. We should remember that they did not benefit from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve Fund. They did not get any fuel subsidy or tie-up scheme. They got nothing because they were not affected in the way the offshore sector was, but they were affected by prices going up and the crisis. I am genuinely appealing to the Minister that whenever we are finished here today with these questions, to please phone the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, and ask him to engage with the EU Commissioner, who he is with today? That is fair enough. Could he tell him there is a crisis affecting inshore fishermen and we need his consent and co-operation to get a scheme? This is an excellent proposal, which I will revisit in a minute.
In very simple terms, what we are doing and what I outlined in my opening response is the range of supports for the inshore sector already. The Deputy says the inshore sector is in crisis; the entire fishery sector is in crisis. We know that. That is why we have the Berkery report. That is why I was able to secure additional money for 2027, which will look at existing schemes. I see it from all parts of the Department. The most efficient way of doing it, from an administrative point of view, is using existing models of funding and getting the best amount of that money out to the stakeholders rather than spending extra money on designing new schemes, which also takes time.
I have deliberately highlighted the challenges around state aid rules and the implications there. The Opposition does not have to focus on that. They are the nuts and bolts of getting approval to do any scheme that matters to the inshore and every other sector in fisheries. We have funding there for next year to put in place structures where we can put additional support into existing schemes and look at new measures. Requests of the Commission will be a key component of that.
The Minister must appreciate my frustration. My time is up.
