The Federation of Irish Fishermen (FIF) said that the scheme represents the beginning of a complete restructuring of the Irish fishing industry. Minister Mary Coughlin T.D. and Minister John Browne T.D. announced that the scheme would remove one third of Ireland’s whitefish fleet. According to them the voluntary scheme is intended to remove older ‘polyvalent’ vessels – estimated between 75 and 100 craft.
Minister Coughlan said that the main purpose of the scheme is to bring about a viable future and support economies of coastal communities. He also added that the government has invested a €21 million budget for the Scheme in 2008 with a further €21 million committed in 2009. According to him the scheme promises many things that could useful for the fishermen and the fishing industry of the country.
Dr Noel Cawley said that the application of the scheme has been greatly delayed at EU Commission level but at last it finally get underway. He also said that other strategies such as the seafood island market initiative and development of processing would also soon be launched.
FIF welcomed the Scheme saying it will deliver on fleet reduction as set out in the Cawley strategy. FIF Chairman Michael Walsh said the scheme has 50 percent increase in the payment rates and improvements in tax rates represented considerable progress, resulting from extensive work by FIF.
IFPO leader Lorcain O’Cinneide said as the industry has too little quota to allow the existing fleet to survive decommissioning would allow people with dignity and give those remaining a fighting chance. According to Gerard O’Flynn of the I.S.&W.F.P.O. decommissioning is necessary to resolve imbalances between shortages of quotas and excess capacity.
