Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The announcement of the British Government relating to the London Fisheries Convention is a game changer. The Minister outlined his approach to voisinagein the Sea Fisheries (Amendment) Bill but this is a game changer and I am hoping for clearer responses from the Minister than what we heard in his presentation. How will he defend the Irish national interest? How will he defend our fishing communities around the coast? We cannot accept what happened with the London Fisheries Convention and allow Europe to negotiate on our behalf without the Common Fisheries Policy being on the table. All the Irish fishing organisations who were before this committee stated their concern about the impact on their catch from UK waters. We cannot sit back and allow Britain to use this in the negotiations without having any strategy to deal with it. I would like the Minister give a statement making it clear that the Common Fisheries Policy is on the table. Maybe he is doing this in private but I would like to hear it. It has to be on the table. If a country stands to lose so much of its catch the status quo has to be torn up. There needs to be a reality check. The British have put this on the table as a negotiating tactic, a chip, and I would like to hear a more forthright position from our Government.

The Minister should read the transcript of the presentations of every single fishing organisation to this committee on the subject of the Sea Fisheries (Amendment) Bill because they are shocking and damning of whoever drafted the Bill in such a hurry. None of the organisations was consulted about something that will have a very serious impact on their livelihoods. There is already huge anger around our coasts about the poor share we have in the catch from our own waters.