Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and I thank Mr. Percy.

I thank the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation for its submission. I acknowledge the organisation raised some valid points. We understand that a fishing licence is allocated to a fishing vessel. The fishing vessel is owned by an individual and, therefore, in essence, while the vessel owns the licence, the person who owns the vessel also owns the licence. One way or the other, we are splitting hairs.

This Bill is about providing fishing opportunity. Every Bill needs amendments. One of those amendments may be to bring clarity to this term. The Title of the Bill, Island Fisheries comes from a committee report in 2014, which stated there should be a heritage fishing licence. I acknowledge the word "licence" may confuse people because a boat has a licence but this is about creating fishing opportunity and the term "licence" has been applied because it was applied in the past to it. We do not wish to mix that up.

The point has been made by several contributors that those on the islands who depend on fishing are in a difficult position and many of those living on the shoreline near them are in a similar difficult position. We all acknowledge that. We are not trying to give an advantage to one over another. We intend to recognise that there is a significant disadvantage to living on an island. The person who lives on an island does not have the same opportunities to access other employment as someone who lives on the shoreline. I spoke to a man the other day in Donegal town who told me he had grown up on an island and had fished on it as a young man. He left the island and lived on the mainland where he ended up working in a textile factory. He stated that if he lived on the island, he would still have to fish because there would be no textile factory on the island. That is the reality for those who live on the islands. They are at a geographical disadvantage because of where they live and, therefore, the only economic opportunity that they have, by and large, is fishing because it is the only natural resource that surrounds them. That is the essence of this Bill.

This Bill is about recognising that. Not only do we recognise it here, it is recognised internationally and in the Common Fisheries Policy. It is there in black and white. We are not trying to disadvantage anyone. We are trying to recognise the disadvantage at which island people already are and in so doing, to allow them the opportunity to get fishing. To get the opportunity to fish, the first thing they need is a quota. My understanding is that to get a quota, they have to have a track record. For a great many of the people living on the islands, getting a track record is something that happened in the past. For those of us in this committee who are more used to farming, it is almost like the requirement for reference years. When people wanted to get the entitlement to farm, they had to have certain reference years. If someone was not farming in those reference years, they did not get entitlements. It is almost the same in the fishing sector. What we want to do is create a situation where there is the opportunity to fish and there is a piece of quota set out for the island fishermen. It will be organised similarly to the way the producer organisations already organise it for their own members, but giving that opportunity to island fishermen. The points raised are valid. We will look at that, and we will certainly look at clarifying the issues around licensing. We can also look at the issue of quota management.

The Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation, KFO, is one of the largest fishing organisations. It is probably recognised as being the best organised and it has done a great job for its members. Everyone understands that. I would like to get a little bit of information on the KFO. How many members does it currently have? How many tonnes of pelagic species does it have quota for? Information like that would be useful to put what we are talking about here into context.