The cap was highlighted in an Assembly debate on Monday after the minister brought regulations to provide support to the industry. Ironically, the regulations were brought under the Fisheries Act, which was hailed by the Tory government as the UK’s first major domestic fisheries legislation in nearly 40 years. It promised to give the UK “full control of its fishing waters for the first time since 1973”.
It also promised to allow the Government to fund a wider range of fisheries projects equip the UK’s devolved administrations “with greater fisheries management powers”. Advertisement Advertisement Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to NorthernIrelandWorld, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you. Alliance DAERA minister Andrew Muir said his proposals were “carefully developed to ensure that future grant schemes have the flexibility to meet new policies and the needs of the Northern Ireland fishing and seafood sector as they change over time”.
However, Jim Allister intervened to say the minister had sold the scheme as one whereby all the devolved regions of the UK can make their own provision. “What he did not tell the House and what the Committee does not even seem to have examined is the overriding fundamental constitutional issue that, under the protocol, the scheme is capped. “The EU, our colonial masters for whom the Minister is but a slave in these circumstances, dictates how much can be granted in aid to our fishermen.
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