The three card trick

Editorial Comment - Cormac Burke, IFSA

As recently reported in The Fishing Daily (November 26th) Minister of State for Fisheries Timmy Dooley raised more than a few eyebrows when, at the latest meeting with the Oireachtas Joint Committee for Fisheries, he announced a further allocation of €5.7 million which will “underpin Ireland’s commitment to significantly expand its Marine Protected Area (MPA) network from its current level of 8% coverage of Ireland’s maritime area to 30% by 2030”.

Now, to be fair to Minister Dooley, most would agree that he has been a breath of fresh air in his open approach to the Irish fishing industry compared to his inept predecessor … however, perhaps it was poor timing to be announcing more funding for MPAs, which more often than not result in closed areas to fishing vessels (‘no take zones’), at the same time as the industry is battling proposed EU quota cuts of whitefish, prawns and pelagic species that might result in a loss to the industry in excess of €70 million per annum as well as endanger thousands of jobs in coastal communities.

The expansion of the MPA network, no matter how you dress it up, is yet more fishing grounds lost to local fleets… and this on top of the offshore renewable industry that this Government loves to talk about (as all things ‘green’ are very PC for all politicians to be associated with) but in fact this, and previous, Governments have been a spectacular failure at integrating as…

…reportedly (as of 10th Nov 2025) Ireland has 79 offshore wind farm projects of which ONE is currently operating full time and, of the others, NONE where construction has progressed enough to connect the turbines and generate electricity; NONE are in the build phase, and SIX are either consented or have applied for consent.

Now, the irony of this additional funding for MPAs came in the same week as the Minister attended the Oireachtas meeting regarding the concerns of how Ireland’s inshore fishing fleet is in real danger of collapse… and this is the very same sector that will be the most effected in the long term with the introduction of more MPAs and closures of local fishing grounds that these vessels rely on.

Be aware of the ‘terms and conditions’ small print

While the Minister confirmed that Government is currently ’actively engaged’ in assessing immediate and medium-term financial supports for the industry, he warns that this process is highly sensitive as Government funding must comply with EU State aid rules… which, alarmingly, already sounds like this will be a cop-out for Government..”ah sure lads, we’d have loved to have given you some money to help but the EU wont allow us…”

So it’s a case of ‘we’re planning to support you guys’ but also ‘we cant help because the EU rules’. 

Now, several questions comes to my mind:

1. Wouldn’t the €200+ million of the €650 million EU/Irish Brexit BAR compensation money that Charlie McConalogue returned last year to the EU as ‘not needed’ be damn handy right now?

2. How come Ireland must adhere to EU regulations with regards fishing industry projects when it comes to State funding when, for example, any compensation funding schemes in recent years, designed and administered by DAFM and BIM demanded that applications provide much private financial and other personal information, went far beyond the application conditions required in any other EU Member State for similar schemes?

3. And how come Ireland is currently nothing similar to other EU ‘grant aid’ schemes … for example BIM making a big ado about new engine schemes with lower emission… but then the small print removing so many items, such as the injectors, to therefore make the main parts of any new or renewed engine ineligible for funding…..              

Reportedly this small print has also crept into the grant aid safety scheme with the subtle removing of many of the actual vital components from being covered from grant aid assistance.                  

And of most notice is that many of these schemes, particularly for the inshore fleet, require the applicant spend the money on the project first.. and then try to claim back the amount of grant aid owed and, for many, this process has taken many months…..     

In fact, in one case that the IFSA has been made aware of… an engine replacement for a demersal trawler that the owners were told to proceed with under the ‘improving emissions ‘ scheme earlier this year, have now discovered, AFTER carrying out the job, that so many individual parts and components of a new engine have now been removed from grant aid eligibility that what should have started out as a 50% grant aid will now in fact be ZERO aid. So it’s a 50% grant aid for a new engine but minus eligibility for injectors, gearbox, manifold, etc.. essentially any of the main parts of the engine.      

And so, what are advertised as wonderful ‘support measures’ for the Irish fishing industry are in fact being designed by the administrations to be of little or no use to anyone… which why, over the past five years, we’re bombarded with huge advertisements of available schemes but in the many BIM reports, we are rarely told exactly how many people were actually successful in their uptake of these schemes.

And of course, while mentioning how Ireland must adhere to the same level of State aid that other EU member states receive then how come we hear NO MENTION of the fuel subsidy that other EU nations have been giving their fishing fleet in recent years while Ireland’s plea for fuel aid was repeatedly completely ignored by the previous minister and doesn’t seem to be even on the agenda of the current Government.

In summary…. while there is ‘much ado’ in political circles about how everyone wants to be seen supporting the fishing industry in crisis, the fact remains that already we’re being prepared for disappointment with reasons why support might not be forthcoming… and meanwhile the three card trick is State and semi State mass PR advertising of ‘schemes’ of support… but the public are then never told that these schemes seem designed to actually deter people or prevent them from gaining any real benefit.

And so, one can only say that most of the current DAFM/BIM ‘support’ schemes are like giving a starving man canned food but then refusing to give him a tin opener…