Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is one of the reasons a comhairle na mara could be established.

We have scheduled an appearance of the Minister before the joint committee, of which most of us are members. Anybody else on the sub-committee will be invited to attend on 27 May when, if everything goes to plan, the Minister will be here. That is as opposed to waiting for the report to be discussed on the floor of the House, as that is a lottery because many reports are produced by all the committees. I am mindful that the Minister is organising a seminar on harnessing our ocean wealth on 18 June in Dublin Castle, and I hope that will have all the industry players present. It is a starting point.

Some key actions must be taken to continue the momentum, and Deputy Ó Cuív has highlighted a potential framework for progress. We should start with the recognition of the need for a forum, which could be comhairle na mara, and we could consider the issues of the Fisheries Local Action Groups, FLAGs, and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, EMFF, for example. As Mr. O'Brien indicated, there is probably an anomaly in the rules in getting new vessels running and newly trained fishermen back in business. There is also the matter of the establishment of a national inshore fishing organisation, of which the islands would be a component. We specifically discussed anybody inside the 12-mile limit and the 80% of people forming the ownership and control of the fishing fleet. There would be a sectoral approach but the islands form part of the approach. The amendment would provide recognition and give a good basis for the likes of a comhairle na mara, allowing vehicles for funding such as the FLAGs, the EMFF or others. There would also have to be consideration of the rules guidelines. The committee provided recommendations regarding heritage and pilot licences, as well as drift netting, where data has established that stocks are being replenished. These are specific recommendations, including the limiting of fishing within the 12-mile limit to boats of 12 m or less.

We have the bones of working recommendations which somebody should pick up and drive on. We have proposed the recommendation of a structure to allow that happen. The committee can facilitate but it needs a specific driver. Comhairle na Tuaithe used the likes of the Leader money to pool others to access funding and drive to a roadmap for national trails and walkways, leading to tangible outputs. In spite of what one might read at times, that has been quite positive. People have established and maintained paths while getting paid to do so; these people are not paid for doing nothing. There is harmony in that respect.

Until the Minister comes before us, we can do little else. We will emphasise many of the points raised today and we will take on board some of the suggested tweaks from initial observations of the report. It is the key working document for where we go from here. As somebody not directly involved, I can still see there is a need for anglers, islanders and everybody else - particularly those involved with drift netting and anglers - to sit down together and understand the issues. There were times when they were felt as incompatible but it can be demonstrated that there is compatibility, which will lead to a more swift progression.

That is a reasonable summary of what I consider to be the issues. I was very pleased to be in a position to chair the sub-committee, although I admit I had the least expertise. The sub-committee came together and worked productively to publish a report. It is not intended for it to gather dust, and that is the reason we are having today's meeting and trying to drive the matter in a timeframe. We hope that at the harnessing of our ocean wealth seminar, which is to be an annual event, there will be recognition of this sector. After all, it concerns 80% of the fishing fleet. It has the ability to address much aspiration, even in the amendment to the Common Fisheries Policy.

I thank the witnesses for coming to today's meeting. Unfortunately, some members had to leave, although they were anxious to be here. Deputy Ferris could not be here and Senator Ó Clochartaigh and Deputy Harrington had to leave. They take the report seriously.