Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is an issue here in how we are dealing with our fishing sector. It is a live issue today because of what is happening and I take the opportunity to raise it with the Minister. I have also raised with the Taoiseach previously. What is happening in Killybegs is a disgrace. The Minister needs to take an interest in this sector. There are companies, that, in fairness, have been supported by Enterprise Ireland and other State agencies, and which are employing individuals, that are at risk if this practice that is happening in Killybegs continues with the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA. The companies are in dispute as to how fish should be weighed when it comes onto the pier.

We have a particular issue with whitefish. Whitefish has to remain in water. Otherwise it cannot be used for human consumption. We had a Danish vessel coming in on Friday. The SFPA stated that they had to weigh a particular way, which meant it would be brought out of the water. That meant it could not be used for human consumption and would only have to be used as fishmeal. The Danish vessel went away and decided not to land.

Yesterday, we had a Norwegian vessel with 950 tonnes of fish on board. The Norwegian vessel was told the same. Prevented from landing, it went away. It landed today at Derry port. Derry port operates under the same EU regulations as Killybegs port because of the protocol. The 950 tonnes have been offloaded at Derry port. At the minute, there is a convoy of 40 lorryloads of fish carrying 950 tonnes travelling down from Derry back to Killybegs to get that fish processed. We talked about the environment and the need to do more. That is the height of stupidity. Not only that, 56 workers were let go yesterday in the factory because they had no work for them because the fish did not land. The Danish vessel is gone. Another Norwegian vessel turned around and is away back to Norway because they heard about the craic that is going on in Killybegs. If this gets out, as it is getting out, there could be long-term reputational damage. This issue needs to be resolved. Thankfully, there is a solution. The industry itself has developed a weighing mechanism that the High Court has ruled can be used if it is externally approved. It really needs to be dealt with.

The issue in this section is interlinked with how the fishing industry is dealt with. It is about the tax treatment of the decommissioning scheme. An announcement was made on funding being provided by the Brexit Adjustment Reserve fund to tie up vessels and this funding was to cover quota cuts. There were quota cuts as a result of Brexit, vessels had to be tied up, and under the Brexit Adjustment Reserve, money was made available. Now we learn that, under this decommissioning scheme which is separate to this, the money that was provided to those who are in the decommissioning scheme, which is basically getting rid of their vessels for the tie up because of the loss of their quota, will be deducted. This is not the way to treat this industry. You cannot give with one hand and take with the other. It is not fair. There needs to be a proper approach to this industry. Deputy Mac Lochlainn, my party's spokesperson on fisheries, is passionate about this, as is the industry itself.

I would raise with the Minister the need for him and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to sit down and look at how this scheme is operating from both a fisheries and a taxation point of view. There are seven or eight companies based in Killybegs that do not process fish at all; they service boats. The boats that they service are in the Irish fleet, but they also service Norwegian and Danish boats. If they are not coming in, they have no boats to service. There is an engineering capability. It is fantastic that they are at the cutting edge but they are losing out as a result of what is happening in Killybegs. That is three vessels in four days that turned around. That is a serious issue. It needs to be resolved quickly because the message is going out that Killybegs is not a welcome port for these foreign vessels and they are making a decision to not spend a day steaming in to Letterkenny and using up diesel - we know the cost of diesel at present - on the off-chance that they will not be able to land and that they will go back to Norway or go to Scotland or wherever they go.

The worst thing is I understand most of the blue whiting that was on Danish vessel was going to west Africa because it is a good fish, and it is a cheap fish for west Africa. It is now going for fishmeal because once the water is taken out of it, it does not last and it will only be used as fishmeal. Some of it was going to Ukraine as well. It is ridiculous what is happening and it needs to be sorted out quickly.