Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. I welcome the Minister and wish him luck in the negotiations next week. One of the things I do not like is how this fisheries issue is run into Christmas Day or Christmas Eve or St. Stephen's Day. It puts a lot of pressure on people to make a correct decision. It is not fair on officials and families, particularly in Ireland where we like Christmas. However, yesterday we listened to the fishermen and to their very serious problems. I am not going to tell the Minister this; he is from Donegal and knows the problems. He knows who the fishermen are and what they are looking for. Those in government and their officials have a big job to do in Europe next week. I wish them luck. There are a few issues that I would like to see taken up seriously. These jobs are very important to rural Ireland. We have lost many people in the fishing industry over the past couple of years simply because they are not able to compete with the bigger boats. The smaller guys are being pushed out. I am not in favour of decommissioning, but it is there. If it is there, it had to be there. In relation to decommissioning, I ask the Minister and his officials to make it worthwhile for the people who want to get out. If he wants people out, then he has to pay them to get out. He has to say to them there is something there for them when they are out of fishing. These people do not want to be out, they want to be fishing but the scheme is there. There are people who feel they cannot survive any longer. They need to get out and need that deal to be there.

In regard to the quota, there is a big job to do. It is going to be a difficult job. In our Irish waters we have substantial amounts of fish that are being fished by European boats, including the French and everybody else. They are talking about burden sharing in Europe. This is a time when they need to support our fishermen here in Ireland. We have never been found wanting as Europeans. When something had to be done or something was needed, our Government and our country has always supported the European Union in regard to issues. This issue at this particular time is a very serious issue for fishermen and I hope the Minister can get that message home, loud and clear, next week at the meeting. I ask him to look for some kind of a scheme to try to get young people some support, to get more people. I know we are talking about decommissioning but if we do not have a scheme for young people we will have no fishermen or fisherwomen for the future. I ask the Minister to see what can be done to encourage young people and to give them a scheme that would make it worth their while to get into fishing.

The fleet is getting older, the generations fishing are getting older and we need to have young people in that industry. It is an important industry for us.

I will finish on this note. The Minister is the Minister for agriculture and for fisheries. What worries me is, and I make this point to the officials, we had scares in this world in regard to food safety in the past. I worry that with what the European Commission and the Green Party are proposing and given what is happening around the world now, unless we protect the industries that provide fresh food for this country, we could have a serious difficulty down the road at some stage. People say it will not happen but it happened with water and with disease and the pandemic we now have and we must be careful to protect the good food industry we have, particularly our fishing and agriculture. I wish the Minister well next week. He will do his best. He must be strong and I hope the rest of the Government will support him strongly and that the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs give him the support that he needs. I do not like him having to go in on Christmas Eve, fighting on the day before Christmas to get what he has to get done, but he knows what he has to do for the fishermen of this country. They are on their knees and they need support.