Fish and chips 'may not be on Irish restaurants' summer menus' as fishers call for fuel assistance

Home made traditional fish and chips with tartar sauce

Fishers will tomorrow call on the agricultural minister to show them the €6m they say is due to offset fuel price rises.

The money is what they claim the EU commission has all but sanctioned the Government to give to them.

Last month, the EU agreed in principle to allow member states to use whatever is left of their EU Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) 2014-20 allocation to cover up to 30% of fuel rises since Russia invaded Ukraine.

In Ireland’s case, the fuel crisis comes on top of the effect of Brexit on the industry, which has seen its quota slashed by up to around 20%.

Brexit has also hit Ireland’s €80m worth of seafood exports to Britain.

Ireland’s EMFF allocation was €240.4m and, by the end of last year, with €213.8m already spent, a balance of €26.6m remained.

However, given a total of €233.8m had been committed by then to a series of fishing industry sector projects, the balance of potentially available cash stood at €6.6m at the start of 2022.

This is the money the fishers say Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue, who will tomorrow attend a virtual meeting with fishing industry representatives, needs to distribute to fishers.

The Government has said the fund is being implemented and some projects will not be finished until next year, with the fund expected to be fully drawn down.

Fishers are asking why, as other EU member states have already started diverting some of what is left of their own EMFF funding to their fishers, the Government can not do the same for its own fishermen and women.

Patrick Murphy, CEO Irish South and West Fish Producers, has called on the Government to 'show us the money'. Picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos

The money could amount to up to €400 to small fishers and up to €3,000 for the larger ones.

Patrick Murphy, CEO of the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation, said: “If the Government doesn’t help offset the high and rising cost of fuel for fishermen and women, traditional fish and chips may not be on Irish restaurants' summer menus.

“This is because our fleet will not be able to pay for the fuel to go to sea, and this is on top of the problems the industry already has.

We need help to ensure we have food security in this time of uncertainty.

“What a lot of people don’t fully appreciate is that Ireland’s fishing industry has been struggling to survive for a while, and long before February 24.

“It is time for the minister to — as Jerry Maguire said in that Tom Cruise movie — show us the money.

“Other EU member states are doing it for their own fishermen, why can’t we?” 

However, while the fishers say this money exists and should - or could — be diverted to them, a spokesperson for the minister said: "Implementation of the (EMFF) programme continues and some approved projects will not complete until 2023.

"Some limited number of projects may be completed under budget, releasing funds for new commitments.

"In addition, a limited number of schemes remain open for new applications, so commitments may increase from day to day.

"Minister McConalogue has given an undertaking to producer organisations to fund their eligible activities as they fall due for payment in 2022 and 2023, and these commitments do not show in (current) commitment figures.

"By the time the Programme closes on 31 December 2023, it is expected there will be full drawdown of funds."

The spokesperson added that the impact of fuel rises on the fishing industry is being kept under “constant review” and is the subject of “ongoing consultation with representatives of our seafood sector”.