Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests. We are an hour and a quarter in this debate and it has been helpful. I acknowledge the contribution of Dr. Steele and her team to this meeting so far.

There are serious issues in the fishing industry. The weekend before last, I spent most of Saturday in Castletownbere and Union Hall. The following day, I was in Kinsale meeting fishermen. It is felt that there is a disconnect between the Department, the regulator and the industry. As has been mentioned at this meeting, that disconnect is a major issue. There will always be tensions between a regulator and an industry. That is the case in most industries. How to ensure that those tensions can be worked through in a proper forum is what I wish to discuss. I would like our guests' views on how there is no forum where the three sides sit down together and thrash out issues. Maybe a policy should be formulated, by this committee in particular, on how such a forum could work. There does not seem to have been a dialogue of any significant nature that has brought everyone together.

Regarding Mr. O'Mahony's view on food quality, he made a significant point about where a regulator steps in and what impact the regulator has on the quality of the fish. I am slightly concerned. All of us in the food chain have a responsibility to limit the damage done to food's quality from when it is harvested to when it is consumed. How we interact in that food chain is important. It is the interaction that the fishing industry is talking about. This is not about the 20% level, but what happens at that level, which the industry says is having a negative impact on the product's quality. From an agricultural point of view, it would be akin to requiring that, when milk is tested, it is at 3 oC instead of the 1 oC it is normally at when it goes into the bulk tank. We must determine how to formulate a plan that limits the damage done to quality. It is the damage done to quality from catch to consumption that we must discuss. We must see how we can engage the fishing industry to ensure it has confidence in how the regulator reacts at that stage.

Regarding the future control plan, what will be different compared with the previous plan? What will the major changes be? How will those affect matters, in particular the weighing on piers? What does the SFPA propose will be the key elements that ensure joined-up thinking between the Department, the regulator and the fishing industry in order that the plan is workable on the pierside?