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

I oppose the amendment. I will speaking on this at a later stage again. As I said, there was poor discussion on this Bill with the fishing organisations. I have been talking to the organisations since the Taoiseach signed the statutory instrument and set the ball in motion. They are furious about so many things that have been heaped on their backs in the past year and a half. It might have been unlucky for us that a certain Minister was there at that time but, unfortunately, we have been left in this situation. We are also in the midst of a Brexit crisis. A task force has completed a report that discusses decommissioning. Many fishermen do not see a future in the industry. The last thing they want is to be criminalised. Certainly when rules and regulations are applied anywhere it is always the Irish fishermen who come out the worst. We have seen that happen. The Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, has been engaged in masses of correcting everything with respect to what it sees as the Irish fishermen doing something wrong. However, foreign trawlers can waltz into and out of our waters when it suits them with little or no restrictions imposed on them. I certainly will be opposing this amendment.