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

I welcome the witnesses. I also welcome, behind us here, Mr. Patrick Murphy from the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation, ISWFPO, and Mr. Cormac Burke from the Irish Fish and Seafood Alliance, IFSA. They have worked hard to try to make the lives of fishermen a little easier in what are extremely difficult times. I hope this will be the first of many meetings we will have with the SFPA and perhaps with other organisations. A massive gap needs to be bridged between the man or woman on the ground and the SFPA. This is obvious to the whole country and perhaps the whole world.

I welcome Mr. Hayes and his colleagues. I also welcome this opportunity to ask some questions regarding Mr. Hayes's appointment and the policy changes that appear to be on the way in the authority since his appointment and since he began to discharge his duties in his new role as chair and sole director of the critically important SFPA. This occurred in circumstances where the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006 stipulates that there should be three such directors. Many of my colleagues will join me in congratulating Mr. Hayes personally and wishing him and the SFPA every success in discharging such a critical role. It is undertaking this role in circumstances in which the future sustainability of the important resource we have in the seas surrounding our small island nation must surely be achieved in conjunction with ensuring the viability, sustainability and socio-economic health of our widely scattered and often remote and island-based coastal communities. The people most intimately connected with the living resources of our seas must be entitled to derive the greatest economic benefit from these resources.

I have 15 minutes and my colleagues also need a chance to contribute, so many of my questions require a simple yes-no response, while other questions require answers lasting no more than a minute. I would appreciate if Mr. Hayes would stick to that time because I have many questions. When a senior position is filled in the SFPA, the announcement is made by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine. Was this the case with Mr. Hayes’s appointment? This question requires only a yes-no answer.