Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his update and presentation. I acknowledge that he and his officials have worked tirelessly on the reform of the CFP, particularly in the past six months during the Irish Presidency. However, I have met with fishermen around the coast who do not share the optimism that has been expressed by the Minister today. In fact, many smaller fishermen are somewhat disillusioned, rightly or wrongly, with the sector at the moment and the quota allocation that is available. While much attention and focus has been placed on discards, regionalisation and the protection of the Hague preferences, the real issue affecting fishermen currently is the lack of quota allocation. That is an historic problem which has not just developed on the Minister’s watch but is a massive issue even in his own part of the country where fishermen fish for cod, haddock and whitefish in Irish waters and are only able to obtain 11% to 12% of the quota while French and Spanish fishermen avail of the rest.