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

I will try to keep my questions to a minimum, in contrast to the last time. I thank all our guests, including Mr. Murphy, Mr. O'Donoghue, Mr. McHugh, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Byrne and Mr. Ward. The representatives of the SFPA, who were before us previously, have said they are consulting the industry. That is not right, in my mind, because of the weighing crisis we have now. At 4 p.m. on 16 April, nobody seemed to be aware of what was going to happen at 5 p.m., and a massive crisis was put before the fishermen. Is that right? Were our guests consulted about this? Did they know anything about it? Were they aware it was going to happen?

Some 5,000 or 6,000 tonnes, or more, of fish can come into places such as Castletownbere, Union Hall and Baltimore, fished by onshore and pelagic fishermen. Do our guests accept this could lead to a serious amount of landings going elsewhere? Could the catches of bigger fishermen go to Norway, the Shetland Islands or Scotland? Is that a possibility? I have been told it is and I would appreciate the comments of our guests in that regard.

It looks to me as if there will no budging in respect of this issue. I tried to get a space to talk about it in the Dáil today but that is not happening. Is there any chance of a restoration of factory weighing, even as a short-term solution? The SFPA is saying it is solution orientated. Have its representatives approached our guests to discuss what solutions they think might resolve this crisis? I understand the board of the SFPA is made up of three internal employees. Is that, in the view of our guests, highly unusual for a State agency? I had better stop there because I could ask 100 questions that our guests will not have a chance to answer.