Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister took some questions in the Dáil yesterday on the concerns being raised here.

We have the statements from producer organisations and some of the leaders of our fishing industry in Ireland and they make for stark reading in terms of the impact felt. Yesterday, I said to the Minister that in his home county of Donegal the industry has estimated that there could be a hit of up to 400 job loses. In an industry that was already struggling to survive, the amount of fish we have lost is completely unsustainable. The message from people in the industry is that they are not looking for financial compensation. They are looking for a fair allocation of the fish in our exclusive economic zone and in other waters under the jurisdiction of the Common Fisheries Policy and, indeed, in waters belonging to the UK, which we are now a trading partner with.

This is a serious crisis. I was taken aback by some of the Minister’s comments yesterday. I appreciate he has a huge portfolio, which includes agriculture, food and the marine and that he relies on advice from officials in the Department but it is time those official were confronted on the advice they are giving him. I refer to one thing the Minister said yesterday. He said fishing was the last issue to be resolved in the negotiations and that that was a sign of how hard people were working on the issue. However, that is entirely contrary to the view of the industry. In particular, I refer to the comments of Seán O'Donoghue of the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation. He said that they always understood that this would not be allowed to happen and that fisheries would not be left as the last item on the agenda to be resolved because that would leave it vulnerable to being sacrificed again. That was his commentary which he was very clear about because he was part of the partnership of other EU member state fishing organisations, called the European Fisheries Alliance. He was very clear that there was to be a united approach, that it was to be linked to the trade negotiations and that it would not be the last item on the agenda. What has happened is that because it was the last item on the agenda there was a rush to get the deal over the line and our fishermen were sacrificed and they took a disproportionate hit. This is a profound injustice. We need the Government to understand that this is a profound injustice. We need the Government to make this clear.

I put my first question to the Minister. Will he now renegotiate a fair share of the fish in Irish waters for the Irish fishing industry? Will he make it clear to his European partners that this is an injustice? I am really disappointed that the Government voted against an amendment to the motion on the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement in recent days which merely called for it to renegotiate the Common Fisheries Policy to get a fair deal and a fair share of the fish in Irish waters for Irish fishers. That was all we were asking for. It was a very conservative ask and it was voted down.

Will the Minister take the opportunity to make it clear that he understands the seriousness of this crisis for the fishing industry and that he will go back and do everything he can to renegotiate a fair deal? That is my first question.