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5.30 pm
Dr. Norman A. Godman (Greenock and Port Glasgow): I compliment the members of the Ulster Unionist party for choosing this subject for debate. I say to the hon. Member for Basingstoke (Mr. Hunter) that I would be happy to argue the case for the social chapter and a minimum wage and for a Scottish Parliament and a tartan tax. However, that would take me outwith the framework of the debate. In my brief speech I wish to put several questions to the Minister about the Northern Ireland fishing industry, the Action for Community Employment--or ACE--programme, the community work programme and sea ferry and air services between Northern Ireland and Scotland.
The Northern Ireland fishing industry employs more than 2,000 people and is important to small fishing communities, as is the case in and around the Firth of Clyde. In 1994, fish landings were worth £18 million. My questions are prompted by paragraph 5.42 on page 64 of the document called "Northern Ireland Expenditure Plans and Priorities". The paragraph refers to the European Union's multi-action guidance programme, which states that by the end of this year the United Kingdom's fishing fleet will have to be reduced by about 19 per cent. The paragraph states:
As the son of a fisherman and a fishergirl or, as she would have been known in those days a fish house lass, throughout my adult life I have argued that there are too many fishermen pursuing too few fish around our coasts. The document seems to show that the Northern Ireland fishing fleet has met the obligation that was placed upon the United Kingdom by the European Union to reduce the gross registered tonnage, because it has reduced its fleet by 20 per cent. and the requirement is 19 per cent. Will the Government assist with modernising that reduced fleet?
In Northern Ireland, as in the west of Scotland from Ullapool to Girvan and beyond, there is an aging fleet. That does not make sense for the safety of fishermen or for making life less difficult for the men who pursue the most hazardous occupation in the United Kingdom. How many vessels have been ordered by the owners of vessels in Northern Ireland? How many conversions to increase engine capacity have been encouraged by the Northern Ireland Office for EU funding? Does the Northern Ireland fleet, like those of the Western Isles and the Clyde Fishermen's Association, suffer because up to now the United Kingdom has failed to meet the requirements of the multi-action guidance programme?
Does the Minister agree that there should be grants to replace aging vessels that may become less and less efficient and perhaps more and more hazardous in heavy
weather? I readily acknowledge that fishing power must be constrained by the need to maintain healthy stocks. If any fishermen are to be banned, they should be the Spanish. I hope that the Minister will forgive my ethnocentricity. [Interruption.] A common fisheries policy should be based upon regional preferences and management because in fragile fishing communities there are few options for other forms of employment. That holds just as strongly for Northern Ireland and, indeed, for some of the smaller fishing communities south of the border, as it does for Scotland.
Bearing in mind the need to constrain fishing effort to the total allowable catches and the need to maintain viable stocks, a reduced fleet must be modern. I should welcome the Minister's response to the concerns that I have expressed--dare I say it--on behalf of the fishermen of Northern Ireland and Scotland. Fishing is important because, as I have said, more than 2,000 people in Northern Ireland are directly employed in it. Table 5.19 of the Government's report is entitled "Fisheries sector performance indicators". What is the employment ratio for the catching sector of the Northern Ireland fishing industry?
I shall now deal with ACE and the community work programme. The last time that I was in Northern Ireland, some representatives of voluntary organisations, one of whom was Quintin Oliver, who I think is the chief executive of the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action, expressed concern about the decision savagely to reduce the ACE programme. My hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley, Central (Mr. Illsley) said that the reduction was about 25 per cent. Representatives from community and voluntary organisations expressed deep anger and serious concern about this ill-judged decision.
In paragraph 5.16 of the Northern Ireland Economic Council's report, the authors state:
The authors go on to state that the programme
The hon. Member for Basingstoke said that he was highly selective in his remarks about such documents.I should point out that this document goes on to state:
However, the authors then comment:
I should like to ask the Minister what will happen to the community work programme--which, two months ago, a ministerial colleague of his suggested would, by and large, take the place of much of the ACE programme.
Paragraph 6.159 of "Northern Ireland Expenditure Plans and Priorities" states that the community work programme
The three areas of Fermanagh, Strabane and west Belfast are then mentioned.
What is to happen to that community work programme? Has the Northern Ireland Office now had a chance to assess the implications of the 25 per cent. cut in the ACE programme? Will that lead to job losses? Will those job losses be more than recompensed by the jobs created by the community work programme? Those are important questions for people living in badly deprived areas in many communities in Northern Ireland. Those people--particularly those associated with voluntary community organisations--have a right to know the answers to those questions.
At the weekend there was mention in the Scottish press of a ferry service between Northern Ireland and Scotland. Some have argued that such a service between Ballycastle and Campbeltown could do much to revive the economy of the Mull of Kintyre, which has recently suffered severely from job losses. If such a service were to link Ballycastle, Campbeltown and, for example, Wemyss bay, rather than Greenock, and if it were to be extended to Moville in county Donegal, would that allow those concerned to obtain more easily funding from the European Union, as it would involve ferry links between two countries, as well as Northern Ireland and Scotland in the United Kingdom?
The best case might be for the creation by Caledonian MacBrayne, for example, of a service between Ballycastle and Campeltown in the first instance, and we could then see how that service develops, particularly in the tourist season.
I should like, finally, to ask a question about air services between Northern Ireland and Scotland, as it has been brought to my attention that there has been a reduction in such services. I find that the service between Glasgow airport--that superb airport, which is just a few minutes from my constituency--and Belfast, for example, is very useful. I should be most pleased if the Minister were able to refute the complaint that those services have been reduced. It would be a shame if such a reduction has taken place because of its effect on the development of air services and sea ferries.
Mr. Harry Barnes (North-East Derbyshire):
It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Greenock and Port Glasgow (Dr. Godman), who takes a serious interest in Northern Ireland affairs. Like me, he is an associate member of the British-Irish interparliamentary body--a body that we wish Ulster Unionists would pay attention to because it is able to discuss such matters as the economic development of the island of Ireland, and the very important role played by the Northern Ireland economy.
I cannot follow my hon. Friend the Member for Greenock and Port Glasgow on subjects related to fishing or to ferry services, partly because the constituency that I represent is entirely land-locked, and I tend not to have any knowledge on those topics.
"A decommissioning scheme was introduced in 1993-94 and in 1995-96 a further 13 Northern Ireland applications were successful under the scheme at a cost of £1.5 million. This brings the total of successful applications in Northern Ireland to 55 at a total cost of £4.5 million and equates to a 20 per cent. reduction in the gross registered tonnage of the Northern Ireland fleet. The position is monitored so that action can be taken if effort by the remaining vessels should increase."
"Within the overall Industry, Trade and Employment (ITE) programme an important announcement was the decision by the Training and Employment Agency (T&EA) to cut the Action for Community Employment (ACE) budget by 25 per cent., thereby reducing the number of placements by 1,800."
"was attractive for those receiving no or relatively low benefit and has attracted high levels of part-time jobs".
"It is, of course, precisely in this area where much new job growth has taken place."
"As yet, with the Community Work Programme not fully operational there do not appear to be any alternatives in place to accommodate 'discouraged workers' most affected by the scheme."
"was introduced in April 1995 on a two year pilot basis and will provide up to 1,000 places. Its aim is to assist local communities to break the cycle of long-term unemployment in their areas by assessing and developing the skills of long-term unemployed adults as a resource to effect local improvements."
13 May 1996 : Column 671
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