Scallop fishermen have given the Government until tomorrow to find a solution to their difficulties, under threat of further protests later this week.
Fine Gael marine spokesman John Perry has called on the Minister of State for the Marine, Pat the Cope Gallagher, to award the fishermen a bigger scallop quota or compensate them to tie up their vessels.
The fishermen from the south and east, who blockaded Rosslare and Waterford ports on Monday, may consider taking their protest to Dublin port if they do not receive a satisfactory response. However, Michael Walsh, chief executive of the Irish South and East Fishermen's Organisation, who is acting as an intermediary for the group, said he was not aware of such a threat.
Mr Walsh and Joe Maddock, chairman of the Irish Fishermen's Organisation, met Minister of State for Agriculture John Browne in Wexford yesterday to discuss the issue.
They also discussed a proposal by the fishermen to tie up some of the larger scallop vessels, with almost €5 million in compensation, and to allow a fleet of 11 to continue with the reduced fishery for the rest of the year.
Crews for the 19 vessels involved in scallop-dredging say they cannot survive on this year's allocation of about 55 days of fishing effort and claim that several hundred jobs ashore and at sea are at risk.
The Minister of State was not available for comment yesterday, but Mr Walsh and Mr Maddock said Mr Browne gave an undertaking to discuss financial aspects with the Minister for Finance.
"He asked us for some time, as the minister (Brian Cowen) was away," Mr Walsh said. "He also told us he had been in touch with the Taoiseach and it would be discussed at Cabinet level today. We spoke to the protesters and received an undertaking to suspend further action, provided there is a satisfactory response by 5pm on Thursday."
Mr Gallagher reiterated yesterday that his "door was open" to the fishermen, but the south and east fishermen's organisation said there was no point in requesting a meeting with Mr Gallagher until he was "ready to negotiate".
Mr Maddock said the fishermen had the support of local processors. "The action they took was extreme, but was not taken lightly," he said. "It is up to the department to try and resolve this."
Mr Perry said "gross miscalculation" by the Department of the Marine had "destroyed" the scallop-fishing industry in the south and east. Figures supplied by the department to the European Commission on fishing activity from 1998 to 2002, on which the new restrictions are based, did not take into account the growth of the fleet since then.
The department also appeared to have continued to grant licences for scallop fishing far in excess of the EU allocation. "We have a crazy situation where fishermen were encouraged to borrow large sums to finance new vessels and they cannot viably take those vessels out to sea," he said.
