Martin Ferris (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the witnesses for their presentations and contributions. It is an indication of why the fishing sector is where it is and why the fishing community is where it is.

I grew up in a fishing community, as many of the witnesses will know, and worked as a commercial fisherman for a while. I have seen communities decimated and destroyed with the advent of the EEC and the way the then Government gave away what would have been one of the best industries in the country if it had been developed and nurtured properly, which did not happen. In the past 12 months I have travelled to almost every port in the country and have seen at first hand how badly affected coastal communities are as a consequence of the way the fishing sector operates.

Senator Lombard made a point. I am not a member of this committee now, but I have been on this committee since 2002. I have argued from the first day I came here that a system such as the single farm payment, where certain people are getting €400,000, €500,000 or €600,000 a year on single farm payments and others €5,000 or €6,000 a year, is grotesque. It is greed at its worst. I have argued that here, and the only person ever to recognise my point was Deputy Coveney. I said that the single farm payment should be capped at €100,000 and then reduced to €50,000 over a four-year plan in order that people who had big investments would be able to make their payments.

I am looking at figures here which have not been contradicted. There was €670 million from 2007 to 2016 for the mackerel quota for the RSW boats. The polyvalent sector came to €97.5 million. When other species are included, such as blue whiting, horse mackerel, herring, Scandinavian herring and albacore, it is alarming. Other people in other sectors go out to make a living and are try to ensure their crew and their families are able to make a living and they cannot do that. I sat in this forum when the decommissioning of 73 boats was applauded as if it was a great thing. Their tonnage and megawatt allocation were then allocated to other sectors.

I am not going to be popular when I say this, but I think this is wrong. It is wrong that there are a couple of sectors that control most of the income of an industry. I applaud the work that has been done to build up the industry, but there should be a spirit of generosity and honesty to try to protect communities rather than individuals. In 2013, the RSW was at €54.55 million and €8.15 million for the polyvalent sector. In 2014 it jumped from €54 million to €127 million, and from €8 million to €16.4 million.

Last year, the figures were €62 million and €9.3 million, respectively. These are huge figures and huge money. I understand there is huge investment but we must look at the bigger picture and what is for the common good, not the individual good. There is an onus of responsibility on all the representatives of the fishing sector here today to do the right thing for the common good, not the individual good. That must be done.

Most of the people I grew up with who were involved in the sector have left it. There are only two people trawling out of Fenit, my home port, whereas 20 years ago there were 15 or 16. They have left. That is only one port, and that has happened all along the coast. Decommissioning became Government policy. What is the way ahead? Perhaps the people who oppose it would explain what is wrong with taking it from one sector and giving something to the weaker sectors. The National Inland Fisheries Forum has said it is prepared to accept the ISWFPO proposal because it puts 9.3 million back into the whitefish sector. There must be give and take here, and there is a responsibility on everyone who is in a position of authority in the various sectors to show that sense of leadership and generosity. That is the only way. Consider that 20 years from now there might be many fewer than the 23 or the 27, and the 2,000 or so other people will be almost gone. Is that what the representatives want, to see hundreds of people going?

There are probably a couple of hundred people leaving it every year at present because there is nothing there for them. Consider the crews on parts of the south coast and the terrible tragedy that occurred at Union Hall when Caitlin Uí Aodha's husband and his crew were lost. There was one Irish crew member. Why is that? No one is going into the sector because they cannot make a living, yet the witnesses can say €670 million and €97.6 million over ten years. It is up to the representatives to sort it out. They will not sort it out by bickering and saying they want this and someone else has to have something else. It is up to themselves, but what will happen at the end of the day will be on their shoulders.