Calls made on Government to find solution to ‘Lost at Sea’ case

A European Parliament hearing into the Donegal ‘Lost at Sea’ case has called on the Irish government to find a solution for the Byrne family who were excluded from the controversial scheme.
In 2010, an Ombudsman’s report found the Byrne family had not received fair treatment under the scheme and it was recommended they should receive a payment of 245 thousand euro – but that has not happened.
Francis Byrne, his son Jimmy and three crew members were lost with their fishing vessel in 1981.
The Byrnes, from Inver had appealed to the Ombudsman because they felt the scheme, which only compensated six families, wrongly rejected them.
Despite the Ombudsman finding the Byrne family had not received fair treatment under the scheme and should receive a payment of 245 thousand euro – that has not happened.
On reviewing the case, the Petitions Committee unanimously agreed to officially request that the Irish government reviews the case in light of the Ombudsman’s report and compensates the family. T
he Committee Chairman commented that the ‘Irish government must find a solution’ to the case and that is what we want – justice and compensation that is long overdue.”
A European Commission spokesperson present at the hearing said the case could not qualify as an infringement of EU law as the Lost at Sea scheme had not been notified to the Commission at the time of its existence and no longer exists.