News

Ireland looks set to scrap a work-permit scheme introduced in 2015 for non-European fishery workers after a review ordered by government recommended a transition to regular employment permits given to other immigrants. On 11 October, after a delay of seven months, the...

Fishing and seafood organisations say they’re ‘hopeful’ that the Minister for the Marine is about to announce a national fuel aid scheme for the Irish fleet. Representatives of the industry met with Minister Charlie McConalogue this week to discuss escalating fuel costs. EU funding is already in place to support such fuel aid, but to date, Ireland had failed to implement one.

Changes to the permit system for non-EEA fishing crew proposed by a Government review have been given a qualified welcome by the Irish branch of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF). ITF campaign lead for Ireland Michael O’Brien said a “major...

The Irish fishing industry says it has a right to be consulted about offshore wind farms because it affects the livelihoods of everyone. That’s according to Aodh O Donnell, the Killybegs based Chief Executive of the Irish Fish Producers Association, who says says...

The Irish fishing industry say they have a right to be consulted about offshore wind farms because it affects their livelihoods. IFPO Spokesperson Aodh O Donnell says every industry needs to co-operate to reduce fossil fuels but “co-operation works both ways and we...

Fishing industry representatives say they are confounded and disappointed by the Government’s repeated refusal to draw down EU fuel aid. They met with the Minister for the Marine on Friday 23rd September and urged him to secure the existing EU aid to help with the...

A meeting held this week between the Tanaiste and local fishing bodies has been described as positive. Leo Varadkar indicated that the government committed to working on sustaining the industry to coastal communities. The event has been described as a first step in a...

Few contemporary Irish writers can give voice to a sense of place on the Atlantic seaboard in the way Mary O’Malley can, and no more so than in a recent poem inspired by a long walk during the early days of Covid-19. It describes how she stopped on a bridge as Galway...

Plans to cut the Irish whitefish fleet by over 30% will not preserve fish stocks in Irish waters, the Irish Fish Producers Organisation has warned. The Killybegs-based group says the Marine Minister’s €60m decommissioning scheme will leave the stocks available to...

An EUR 80 million (USD 79.8 million million) scheme to retire a third of the Irish fishing fleet won’t have the effect of preserving fish stocks and needs to be accompanied by a plan to make the sector “greener and more innovative,” according to the Irish Fish...

Plans which will cut the Irish whitefish fleet by over 30% will not preserve fish stocks in Irish waters. That’s according to the Irish Fish Producers Organisation, who say European vessels will fish these stocks in our waters instead. The IFPO are responding to the...

A deal struck over Brexit has only worsened life for Irish fishermen, who fear things are about to get even worse. Inside the biggest harbour in Ireland, at Killybegs in Co Donegal, skipper Michael Callaghan’s 50-metre fishing boat is tied up and going nowhere. Read...

Rising fuel prices are crippling the Irish Seafood sector, including fishermen, aquaculture producers and fish processors. That’s according to Galway-based Enda Conneely of the Irish Islands Marine Resource Organisation (IIMRO ), who says the crisis is a threat to...