Tag Archives: Department of the Marine

Fleet reduction is a signal that local economies will be hit hard

“It is appalling that we have the best, most-productive fishing waters in Europe, but the government has again failed the Irish fishing industry. Other member states in the EU have been given the biggest catching rights in Irish waters and the Government has failed to achieve this. Boats are leaving the industry because owners say they cannot continue to make a living from fishing, which has suffered repeated blows. Industry organisations have been warning for months that the crisis it faced was not being adequately responded to by government. Now what they have warned about is happening.  >click to read< 08:07

“Minister Michael Creed and his officials have effectively turned their backs on the fishing industry.”

That view from Castletownbere in West Cork by the chief executive of the Irish South and West Fish Producers, Patrick Murphy, criticising the minister for the marine who is from Macroom in mid-Cork, represents a new low in relationships between the industry and the Government. The country’s four major fish producer organisations are in serious dispute with the Department of the Marine over assistance the industry has sought due to the Covid 19 pandemic. The department has rejected the industry’s view. Today is crucial in the dispute. It is the closing day for applications to be made for inclusion in a support scheme offered by the department, which has been described by the Irish South and West Fish Producers in Castletownbere as “botched and unfit for purpose.” >click to read< 10:16