Need to ensure fishing sector employees ‘are included in any compensation’

A motion put forward to Donegal County Council by Cllr Niamh Kennedy to contact Minister Timmy Dooley regarding a fishing industry taskforce sector was passed at January’s council meeting.

Cllr Kennedy’s motion, which was seconded by Cllr Martin McDermott, called on the council to contact the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Timmy Dooley, and other relevant Ministers in relation to the appointment of the taskforce for the fishing industry sector.

Speaking at the council meeting, Killybegs-based Cllr Kennedy said: “Minister Dooley had suggested a compensation package for the fishing industry and processing industry would be coming down the track. The remit didn’t extend to the ancillary services that Minister Dooley had said. We are talking about the net factories, the electronics services, that really relies solely on the fishing industry 

“The remit needs to extend further to the employees of the industry, a packageis required to help employees to diversify, find alternative employment, to upskill and to have a continuation of an employment contribution paid to them. 

“Anyone working in this sector who is/was on a payroll cannot avail of community employment schemes because of the outdated rules. 

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“Unfortunately, our coastal communities will die if this is happening with our fishing industry, we do need to ensure our employees in the sector are included in any compensation. It may not be through the fishing sector, so it has to be through education, supports, or social welfare entitlements.

“I have spoken to a number of fishermen who have just decided that they are just not going to fish anymore because they are going to be told they will get the P45 anyway. 

“It is time to take this extremely seriously. It is not just Killybegs. It is every single coastal town and village in this county and down the west coast of Ireland.

“We really need to concentrate on Donegal and look after our own people.

“It is dying on its feet, and we really need to be able to diversify.”

In seconding Cllr Kennedy’s motion, Cllr Martin McDermott said: “This motion is an extremely serious motion for coastal communities.

“The fishing industry is dying on its feet, and there doesn’t seem to be the will to change that. 

“To be fair to Minister Dooley, I think he is trying really hard for the fishermen, but I think they are hitting a brick wall when we go to Europe in relation to fishing. It just seems that decisions are made by the bigger countries, and Ireland is coming out really poorly out of it.

“There needs to be something educational because lots of these fisherman are self-employed, and once they lose their job, there is no social welfare to go to. They are finding it very difficult to get any money at all, and it is making life very difficult for them. There needs to be an avenue to get them some way back in the welfare scheme to allow them to get their life back.”

The Chief Executive of Donegal County Council, John McLaughlin, responded to the motion, commenting: “We are happy to write the letter. We will put on some of the conversations today as well.  

“We might agree on who the relevant ministers are as well, so we are not missing somebody.”