CLOSE to 30 percent of ships in West Cork remain docked due to the fuel crisis, according to the Irish South & West Fish Producers Organisation (ISWFPO).

Many fishermen are still in a position where they have to stay at home because the cost of going out is too high, according to ISWFPO ceo Patrick Murphy, whose son is one of those affected by the sharp rise in the price of Marked Gas Oil (MGO).

Prices have nearly doubled since the outbreak of the war in Iran, rising from €0.97 per litre in late February to €1.80 per litre in recent weeks.

‘He couldn’t go out to sea and he couldn’t bring food back that keeps seven jobs going because he didn’t have enough diesel,’ Murphy said.

‘He wasn’t safe to go because if he broke down he’d be calling the lifeboat to go to shore. It’s just not safe.’

Murphy told The Southern Star that the fishing industry were broadly in support of the protests, but felt unable to join in any blockades at ports due to provisions in place from previous years which would have led to fines that would ‘crucify us’.

ISWFPO CEO Patrick Murphy

The government announced a €100 million Fuel Subsidy Support Scheme to assist farmers, agricultural contractors and fishers earlier this week.

Up to €5 million per month of the fund will be used to support fishers and other sectors affected such as forestry and specialist horticulture, with the government also advising that a fuel support scheme for fishers will be developed, subject to EU State Aid requirements.

Murphy welcomed the package but said more is needed, and pointed to severe EU quota cuts alongside the fuel crisis as key reasons vessels would be loss makers if they went to sea.

‘For us it boils down to this: we need fuel at a price that means we can continue to bring affordable food to the people of Ireland. It’s as simple as that.’

It comes in a week where Independent Kerry TD Michael Healey resigned as Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture with special responsibility for Forestry, Horticulture and Farm Safety over the crisis.

Kerry TD Michael Healey Ra

The government brought a motion of confidence to the Dáil on Tuesday, which passed by 92 to 78 votes. However, Healey-Rae’s resignation has reduced their majority to five above the 87 required, in what is a significant crack in the current coalition.

‘I’ve seen grown men crying because they’re worried about their futures, and they feel that this government hasn’t listened to them,’ he said in a social media video explaining his decision.

‘They’re feeling particularly that the leader of the country hasn’t listened to them. I’m so sorry for that.’

The former minister’s resignation took the government by surprise, but he said that he felt he had been left with ‘no choice but to vote no confidence in the government, and its leader, because of the fact that he didn’t listen on time, and there is surpluses there, there is more that could be done’.

Opposition TDs later welcomed his decision to resign his Cabinet post.