Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As Ms Parke can see, there is a superpower. Somebody has 87% of the market compared with the 13% owned by others. It is obvious that superpowers operate in the sea, and it is unfortunate that we are in that situation. As she heard a witness say, 60 or 70 people are working in towns around Castletownbere, Dingle and other places. Perhaps if we could increase the percentage owned by bodies which are not superpowers there could be some fair play and a bit of negotiation could be done. Sitting around a table resolves a lot of issues, as we have seen. If that happened in the fishing industry, perhaps the number of employees in Castletownbere could increase from 60 to 120, and 100 could be employed in Dingle. That means a lot to a rural community. When the fishing industry in areas such as Schull to collapsed, the town started to collapse around it. We are fighting for the survival of rural communities.