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

I will be brief because other members want to come in. The sanctions have been imposed on the entire fishing fleet, yet not one fisherman has seen any evidence or shared any information that was compiled by the 2018 audit or the 2019 administrative inquiry, which the SFPA carried out. Why withhold evidence and yet proceed to punish the entire sector? A real dangerous situation is happening here. The SFPA said that it has not shared any copy with anybody outside of its own remit, as such, but then there are leaks all over the place. Nobody is accountable for leaks. Nobody is answerable for where the leaks emanate from and who is responsible. This is damaging good, hardworking, honest inshore pelagic fishermen, however, whether they be from Castletownbere, Union Hall, Schull, Wexford or Galway. Severe damage has been done.

The witnesses will also be aware that senior politicians have put on record, as have others who have fallen out the side doors, whether that is from the Department or wherever these leaks are coming from, that our fishermen are reputed in Europe - in the halls of the European Commission, Parliament and European Council - to be pure pirates who spend their entire working lives ripping off the CFP illegally. This is the perception being put out there with the leaks. This being the case, one might image that the European Commission reports would reflect this misinformation, disinformation and pure propaganda.

The witnesses will therefore be surprised to learn from the content of the latest research and working paper from the Commission on the EU sanctioning system, dated from January 2021, that Ireland hardly features at all. This paper makes it clear that Ireland hardly features at all on the offenders list. The truth is that Irish fishing boats are responsible for 0.8% of all European-wide offences against the Common Fisheries Policy. From the leaks that are coming out, which look as though they are orchestrated leaks, it would appear that the fishing industry is up to every sort of meddling. The reality is that the EU is saying that is absolutely not the case. In Ireland we are making it look as though it is an issue and a major crisis. What is wrong? Where did the leaks come from? Why and how did this happen? Is there any investigation going on within the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, within the Department or within the Minister's office as to how these leaks came about and why were they put out there to discredit the fishing industry? The industry has worked so hard to work within the regulations, which are crippling against the Irish fishers whether they are inshore or pelagic fishers. I would like someone along the line, it does not need to be the Minister, to launch an inquiry as to where these leaks came from and why we found out afterwards that as far as the European Union is concerned Ireland is at the bottom of the ladder with regard to rules being broken.