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

I thank the four industry leaders who are in on the call representing their producer organisations today. I join the Cathaoirleach in extending sympathy to the family and friends of Hugo Boyle. I had the privilege of meeting Hugo on a number of occasions and speaking to him on many occasions. He was a thoroughly decent man and a genuine person for uniting the industry to stand together and stand up for their interests. He will be badly missed. I am proud that he was a Donegal man. I am sure he will be thinking of us and will be with us in spirit for the next big fight we have to make.

I made the appeal earlier to the Minister, Deputy McConalogue. I have been speaking to all facets of the fishing industry in Ireland: the producer organisation leaders, the inshore sector, the island sector and all the people across the island. I will meet with leaders of the fishing industry in the North of Ireland today. My appeal is that we unite across all political parties and all sectors of fisheries to defend our interests right now. We have accepted reluctantly the relative stability model for many years.

The approach of the British Government in its trade negotiations was for zonal attachment. Truth be told, it never believed in a million years that it would get what it said it wanted because it is exporting to a market of 500 million people. In the presentations made by Mr. Murphy and Mr. O'Donoghue to the committee before the deal was done, it was pointed out that approximately 74% of British fishing produce is exported to the EU. Of course, the British was never going to get what it specified but it has got acceptance of the principle of zonal attachment, which is a game changer. We now need to build on that. I agree with Mr. O'Donoghue's comment that in the short or immediate term, we need to fight for burden sharing. The submission is spot on in that regard. We need to secure burden sharing immediately in the negotiations in the days, weeks and months ahead. We must also agree together that the practice of relative stability, which bases the share of fish in Irish waters that we get on the fishing practices of the 1970s, makes no sense anymore. We are not looking for all the fish in our seas. We are aware that we have to export to the EU, with its population of 500 million, but we are looking for a fair share that allows sustainable living for all our fishermen. I ask all the IFPO leaders to give me their thoughts on the call to unite together across the island of Ireland, the industry and all political parties. Hopefully the task force can be part of that. I refer to making a united call regarding what we want from the immense marine resource around our island.

This is the only remaining island state in the EU. It is the only island state in the EU surrounded entirely by water. We have a Minister responsible for agriculture, food and the marine and two Ministers of State but neither of the Ministers of State has responsibility for the marine. That is the situation we are in. We do not have a focus and we have taken our eye off the ball. That is how we allowed this situation to arise. There is no point crying over spilt milk, however. We have to talk about how we move forward. Do the witnesses agree that we all need to unite and ask for a different approach in the Common Fisheries Policy than that of relative stability, which has failed us over the years?