Computer files and fishing vessel logbooks have been seized in fishing ports on the west coast as part of a Garda inquiry into allegations of fraud in the fishing industry. Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent, reports.
About 100 gardaí from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation conducted the searches yesterday in Killybegs and Greencastle, Co Donegal; Rossaveal, Co Galway; Castletownbere, Co Cork; and Dingle, Co Kerry.
The searches occurred after warrants were obtained in district courts in respective counties, and premises checked included fishing vessels, fishing agents, co-operatives, fish processing company offices and private homes of vessel owners.
The operation was directed by Det Supt John O'Mahony of Harcourt Square, and an incident room was set up in Donegal town.
Det Supt O'Mahony said there had been full co-operation during the operation, and all documentation would now be taken to Dublin and examined in detail. Computer files will be downloaded, while logbooks seized on fishing vessels include details of catches recorded under EU Common Fisheries Policy regulations.
The most extensive search was conducted in Killybegs, the State's largest fishing port, and it is understood that all fish processing factories were visited, including several run by supertrawler owner Mr Kevin McHugh.
Vessels landing into the factories were checked, while offices run from private houses were also visited. The Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation, which has said it will co-operate fully with the inquiry, had no comment to make yesterday.
Co-ops visited included the Galway and Aran Fishermen's Co-Op offices in Rossaveal which is agent to Connemara and Aran island vessels, while it is understood that the main fish factory visited in Dingle, Ó Cathain Éisc Teo, was also included in the searches.
The Minister for the Marine, Mr Dempsey, requested the inquiry after Donegal fisherman Mr Pat Cannon wrote to the European Commission, other member-states and Norway. Mr Cannon has already been interviewed by Garda detectives.
His claims include allegations of collusion by officials with the Department of Communication, Marine and Natural Resources. But a Department spokesman had no comment to make on the situation yesterday. The Minister of State for the Marine, Mr Gallagher, has also said it would be inappropriate for him to comment, but he hoped the inquiry would be concluded speedily.
Garda searches are separate to a Revenue Commissioners investigation of the fishing industry, which has focused for most of this year on south-east ports. Significant settlements have already been made over practices uncovered by Revenue officials, and a sizeable number of cases are still under investigation. Checks continue in Co Wicklow. Earlier this year, a Revenue representative said Killybegs, which grosses the most earnings in the industry, was tax compliant.
The European Commission has said it will not move on Mr Cannon's claims until such time as the Irish authorities have conducted their own checks. The Commission's fisheries directorate has made it clear it will monitor the situation closely, but says it is up to the Government here in the first instance. The Commission is taking infringement procedures against Britain, Spain and Portugal and has imposed a fine on France for failing to police illegal fishing.
The Irish fleet is among the most closely monitored in Europe, and has one of the harshest system of penalties among member-states. Larger vessels are subject to satellite monitoring, run on the EU's behalf by the Naval Service.