Is the Minister aware that the Department of Forestry and Fisheries, in conjunction with BIM and Údarás na Gaeltachta, placed an advertisement in the national newspapers and the fishing publication inviting people to apply for grants for boats which measured 133 feet? Can they be serious in offering money and incentives to fishermen when they know that they cannot take advantage of them in view of the proposed reduced quotas?

There is no change in the policy of BIM. It is normal to place advertisements in the paper annually and it applies to people who change their boats, not just to new boats. The Deputy also questioned the reduction in quotas——

The Minister seems to be answering a question he should not have been asked.

The Deputy also asked about a reduction in quotas. We are hopeful of retaining the same catches as we had in 1983 and maybe extending them in certain species.

I asked the Minister if he was aware that the various bodies here responsible for the industry put an advertisement in the relevant newspapers inviting people to apply for grants to purchase boats of 133 feet, remembering that there were no grants for these boats prior to——

If the Deputy thinks about it for a second or two, I am sure he will be convinced that what he is asking now is very far removed from the question on the Order Paper.

I should like you, a Cheann Comhairle, to remind the Minister that he did not answer the question which I asked.

I have no control over the Minister.

You have control over me but no control over the Minister?

Exactly. I have control over the questions that are asked but, for decades past, the Ceann Comhairle, no matter how good or bad he was, had no control over how questions were answered.

It is no reflection on you, a Cheann Comhairle. I only want a simple answer to the question I asked —are they fooling the fishermen by offering incentives when only four of those boats could land 80,000 tonnes?

Deputy Gallagher is speaking about something which is not covered by the question.