Mr. Patrick Murphy:

I want to give the committee a clear indication of what we are being told and the human element involved. I have neighbours and friends from Germany who sent me their version of an article in a German newspaper that asked why the Irish are complaining about this.

The author stated that all the fish are in Ireland's waters and asked why the Irish do not simply go and catch them. He questioned whether we were not good fishermen. That is the understanding by the ordinary common person in Europe about this. They know the fish are here. It makes no sense to Europeans why we are in the situation we are in. They simply do not understand it. They maintain that the fish are here and simply ask why we do not go and catch them.

We have to set this right and the only place that can be done is at the top. We need our leaders to go to Europe and explain to people there and show them what is clearly evident, namely, that a bad deal was foisted upon us. Deputy Pringle asked who was present when this was being negotiated, who signed off on it, what are the details of the deal and what are the responses. This will not be solved here, but it can be started here, as Mr. O'Donoghue has said. We need support to do that.

I reiterate that 25% of our fish have been lost. To me, it is a question of simple mathematics: 25% of our industry has to go. Can committee members imagine pointing to one in four people in coastal communities and saying to them that their jobs are gone? I reiterate that it is not because the stocks are in poor condition or because the fish are not in our waters, it is because we had to give them away for the benefit of others. I cannot allow my brain to process this information. How can the European Union turn to any country and tell its people that the policies were meant to protect the coastal communities? They were enshrined in the legislation to protect the coastal communities. Now, it is a case of deciding they will take our fish and try to mitigate the problem by putting coastal communities and their future generations out to pasture. It beggars belief. I thank the Chairman for allowing my intervention.