Fine Gael's marine spokesman John Perry has withdrawn allegations he made in the Dáil last year about the controversial "Lost at Sea" compensation scheme.
In a personal statement this week, Mr Perry withdrew remarks claiming a "total cover-up" in the scheme which provided compensation to people who had lost fishing boats at sea between 1980 and 1990.
He said that in his contribution on October 19th last he stated: "This is a serious matter, it is a complete cover-up. Never in the history of the State has such a report issued from the ombudsman clearly indicating the compliance of the department and senior civil servants in a cover-up on this scale."
Mr Perry said he wished to withdraw that comment.
Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey thanked Mr Perry on behalf of ministers and senior civil servants in the department. "It was a source of grave concern to them and I want to acknowledge it and thank him for doing it," Mr Dempsey said.
The Fishing Vessel Lost at Sea scheme was introduced by former minister for the marine Frank Fahey.
Six of 67 applicants succeeded in getting replacement tonnage, two of whom got 75 per cent of the tonnage quota.
A complaint was made to the ombudsman about the scheme by an unsuccessful applicant and when Mr Perry raised the issue during marine questions in October last year, Minister of State John Browne rejected his claims of a cover-up and insisted his department had co-operated with the ombudsman's investigation.
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