Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Beamish and Ms Kelly for the presentation. It is evident from the document and the presentation that coastal and fishing communities are poor relations when it comes to negotiations, particularly those in Europe.

It is very evident that coastal and fishing communities are the poor relations when it comes to negotiations, particularly in Europe. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív mentioned the first negotiations in 1973 and how the fishing community had been sold out in those negotiations. At least, he and his party have come to terms with what they did in the past. Every year since I was elected to the House I have made the point that the fishing industry is in irreversible decline because of the lack of a quota. It has been contracting year after year because there is no political commitment within the political establishment to help sustain and grow the sector. There is no point saying otherwise. These communities are the poor relations when it comes to negotiations. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív referred to the map on his wall. What is very evident from it is the amount of our territorial waters contributing beneficially to the fishing fleets of other European countries. When one assesses all of this in political terms, there is an abject failure on the part of the political representatives on this part of our island to represent coastal and fishing communities. Coastal communities are decimated because the fishing industry has contracted. That industry always had a knock-on effect onshore, but all of that has disappeared. As Deputy Noel Harrington is from Castletownbere and lives in that area, he sees this daily. I live north west of Fenit and see it every time I go back there. One can see it in Dingle and Rossaveal. With the exception of a couple of small centres where there is a small number of boats, the vast majority of the fishing fleet has been sold out, compromised and effectively used as cannon fodder in the negotiations.

The two issues about which the witness is talking are the total allowable catch, TAC, and discards. Even the discard issue will be determined in negotiations between the Parliament and the Council. If the Parliament has its way, what will be the position of the fishing fleets if this measure is to be implemented by 2015? Can the discard issue be dealt with in such a short space of time? Dr. Beamish says there should be a compromise on it and there probably will be. Ultimately, it is a disgrace and discards should not happen, but when one is fishing and there is a by-catch in the nets, how does one deal with it? It is not possible to deal with the issue in a year or two. I am certainly glad that the Council and the Parliament are taking the issue seriously.

The Hague preferences were mentioned by the previous speaker. Under the Hague preferences, every year we must go, cap in hand, to try to secure some sustainable support for the industry. That is not right. We cannot even secure permanency in this regard. Again, it just shows the lack of political clout to stand by an industry. I will quote a paragraph from the presentation because it states a great deal: "The share Ireland received of the quotas available at the outset was determined on a system of relative stability, based on historical fishing patterns in the confines of the set management areas." What historical patterns? Are they historical patterns as determined by the previous Commissioners and now by the Commission, the Council and the Parliament? The paragraph continues: "That system has continued since and was not changed in the CFP reforms of 1992 or 2002. There is no support in the Council for a change in the traditional quota allocations in the current reform either and the Commission has not proposed any change." Has the Irish Commissioner proposed a change? If the Commission has not proposed any change, I do not understand why, with an Irish person representing us and given that we hold the Presidency, we are not making it a serious political issue. Crippled with austerity, the industry continues to decline and contract, yet nothing is happening politically to defend or support an industry that has traditionally played a big role in the sustainability of rural Ireland. The sustainability of rural Ireland, particularly coastal communities, was always dependent on both the fishing and small farming sectors, both of which have now left the horizon.

I do not know what else can be said. I just cannot support the proposal. I have been saying since the day I was elected in 2002 that there is no political commitment, irrespective of what political party has been in government since 1973, to do anything positive to try to rebuild an industry and a sector that has been abandoned and used as a compromise in negotiations. I do not envisage any change as we move forward.