Fishing industry organisations have welcomed the Government's decision to seek EU approval to buy out 25 per cent of the national whitefish fleet over the next three years.
The €45 million scheme will be voluntary and will allow owners of older and larger whitefish vessels, including scallop boats in the southeast, to apply for compensation to tie up and scrap vessels.
Minister of State for the Marine Pat "the Cope" Gallagher, who secured Cabinet approval for the initiative on Wednesday, said the aim was to achieve a better balance between the size of fleets and available fishing opportunities.
The programme replaces a limited decommissioning scheme announced last April by Mr Gallagher which had a budget of just €8 million and precluded owners of certain vessels, such as the southeast scallop fleet skippers, from applying.
This restriction was one of the reasons for a blockade of Rosslare and Waterford ports by southeast scallop boats last month.
The scheme will be based on recommendations made by former IDA chief executive Padraic White in a report commissioned by Mr Gallagher to address the scallop fleet's concerns.
Welcoming the measures, Jason Whooley, chief executive of the Irish South and West Fishermen's Organisation (IS&WFO), said his organisation had been concerned that a "bidding system" to set the price of tonnage would have made the earlier scheme unattractive. Mr White's report has advised against a bidding system.
However, Mr Whooley warned the "devil" would be "in the detail" as the amount of money for whitefish vessel tonnage would have to be above market value to make the scheme attractive.
Mr White recommends that the maximum EU ceiling price for tonnage be used.
Mr White's report makes a series of recommendations, including removal of 25 per cent (10,937 gross tonnes) of the whitefish fleet and the reduction of the scallop fleet.
He says decommissioning should apply to boats aged 15 years and over, 18m in length or over in the whitefish fleet and 15m or more in the scallop fleet. He also includes a special fund for hardship cases.
The 25 per cent reduction would remove a "perpetual state of crisis which envelopes the sector".
Mr Gallagher said he had accepted Mr White's main recommendations, but other points would have to be examined in more detail. These included a fund for boats for younger entrants, part-subsidised by the industry, and exploration of a strategy for artificial reef development.
The Irish Fish Producers' Organisation and the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation have also welcomed the plan.
The Labour Party's marine spokesman, Tommy Broughan, said: "It is a striking fact that it took a blockade of Rosslare port by the scallop fishermen to waken up this Government to the real suffering of fishing communities around the Irish coast."
Green Party spokesman Eamon Ryan TD said: "Having effectively handed over a similar amount of money in commissioning just one vessel, the Atlantic Dawn, and spent many other millions in similar expansions to the fleet, we are now throwing the engines into full reverse to pay for the decommissioning of the same fleet."
