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

I thank the Chair for accommodating this meeting. It is of huge importance and I will get straight into what I need to say. As far as I am concerned, after listening to fishermen, their unions and leaders, we are facing a massive crisis in fishing. I am in a rural constituency, surrounded by water and fishing, that has seen cuts for the last number of years and neglect by successive governments. I was in the Dáil yesterday but the Minister did not get around to answering some of the questions, which I accept given that our time limits were very tight. The preliminary analysis now confirms that the transfer of quota shares from Ireland is a staggering 27% higher than the Government initially announced. The official report indicates a total loss to Ireland's fishermen in the mackerel sector of €43 million by 2026. This is most valuable to the Irish fleet, which has been hardest hit with a 26% cut in its quota share, worth €28.6 million.

Around 60% of this cut will emerge in 2021 so the impact will be felt immediately. What can the Minister offer fishermen? I have been talking to people in the pelagic sector and they have told me they are facing wipe-out, massive drops in their income and job losses. The only thing they hear from the Government is about a decommissioning and tie-up scheme. Surely, there is something better for the Irish fishermen who see and want to see a future in the water other than a tie-up and a decommissioning scheme. The Minister said he was talking to Michel Barnier during the week and raised with him the situation Irish fishermen were facing with an additional burden. We did not get anywhere in the negotiations. It looks to me Michel Barnier was negotiating. I was always saying in the Dáil that he was offering 18% and asking where the 18% of fish was coming from. I always knew it was coming from Ireland at a cost to Irish fishermen. No one seemed to want to take up the issue. Mr. Barnier's president, Mr. Macron, was definitely at the wheel and was steering the ship. He was not going to allow any deal until French fishermen were looked after. Unfortunately, it seems they and other European countries were looked after at a cost to Irish fishermen.

Where do these fishermen go from here? What is there future? They are losing their income and their jobs. There are going to be massive losses in coastal counties like the Minister's county of Donegal and in my constituency of Cork South-West. What is the future? I do not want to hear about decommissioning because if that is the future for Irish fishermen, it is a very bleak one. I asked the Minister about the number of EU, non-Irish, UK and other coastal state vessels that have authorisation to fish in the biologically sensitive area in the Celtic Sea, off our west coast, in the Irish Sea and off our Donegal coast? I asked the Minister another question yesterday, which he did not have the chance to answer as the time was very tight. How does one monitor the amount of fish these vessels catch every day in Irish waters? The Minister might be able to answer those questions.