Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

These are paragraphs from a statement issued by Aodh O'Donnell, the chief executive of the Irish Fish Producers Organisation, IFPO:

Belgium has a 67k coastline, while the Irish coastline is 4400k, representing 12% of the EU waters. Yet Belgium’s fish processing sector had a turnover of €961m in 2019 compared to just €622m for Ireland,”he says, drawing figures from Eurostat. Germany has a coastline of 2389km, [that is substantially less than Ireland] yet in 2019 their fish processing sector turnover was €2,196m. [That is multiples of Ireland] Furthermore, over the last eight years, the Irish industry has fallen from 3rd highest in Europe to 10th place. The decommissioning scheme will reduce the whitefish fleet to a third of its 2006 size.

That is the scale of the scandal of allocation of resources to our own fleet in some of the richest fishing grounds in Europe. When one looks at the comparison in respect of coastline and the scale of the resources versus the return, and the devastating impact it is having, can you imagine the number of jobs that have been lost to coastal communities because of this repeated failure to get justice?

In the Minister’s presentation today, even the Hague preferences are not certain. I will proceed now with my questions.

In the second paragraph of his opening statement, the Minister stated, “In addition to the continuing fuel crisis”. At the outset, the Minister acknowledged the impact of the fuel crisis on our fleet, yet we are an outlier in Europe in respect of introducing an emergency fuel subsidy. Obviously, I will question the Minister in the Dáil Chamber on this point and we will have a more substantial interaction in a little while there, but I am completely shocked. I understood a number of days ago that there was an expectation in the industry that something would be announced given the scale of this. I was speaking to inshore fishermen from different parts around the coast again in recent days and this is a real crisis. The tie-up scheme is entirely separate. That is a Brexit adjustment reserve fund matter to compensate for the loss of quota and is an unrelated matter. We are talking here about the impact of the fuel crisis and the failure of our Government, an outlier in Europe, where resources are available and states are being actively encouraged by the European Commission to do something, and nothing is being done. I trust, now that the Minister has highlighted this issue in the second paragraph of his opening statement, that there will be action on that and perhaps we will receive a response to that in a moment. I have three questions and then afterwards I will have a final three questions to ask, with the leave of the Chairperson.

My second question is on the Common Fisheries Policy. The Minister proposed to extend our exclusive zone to 20 miles. Can the Minister give the committee an update as to why that has not been accepted and where it all stands at the moment? This is of particular importance to a number of sectors.

As I have said, I have a number of other questions to wrap up when I hear the Minister’s response, but my third question relates to the EU-UK consultations. On these, the Minister talks about the sequencing and the involvement of the industry, which I welcome. The Minister wants to get to the point where by the time there is a EU-UK approach to that, the input of the industry can be maximised into that, and getting the feedback based upon the scientific data. The one thing that is missing and that stand out like a sore thumb is Rockall. What has happened here is completely outrageous. As the Irish Government has stated, this is an uninhabited rock. You cannot put an exclusive limit around an uninhabited rock. I want to receive some assurance from the Minister today that in those negotiations, he will assert the traditional fishing rights of our industry. As the Minister knows, from Greencastle, Killybegs and down to Castletownbere, this has cost over €7 million per year. This is completely outrageous.

My criticism is that in the middle of this process of negotiations with the British Government, the Irish Government made something that had been unconstitutional constitutional by ratifying the 2013 agreement by way of incorporating it in the Maritime Jurisdiction Act That was a significant mistake because, as the Minister is aware from the Barlow Supreme Court judgment in regard to the voisinageagreement, while an agreement may have been made at government-to-government level, unless such an agreement is passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas, it does not have a constitutional footing. We allowed a situation where we confirmed in our law, in line with our Constitution, that by passing that Bill in the Oireachtas, we conceded that territory. Even though we did that, which was a huge mistake, we should still have access into those grounds under the justice of reciprocity. There can be no justification for Britain putting an exclusive zone around an uninhabited island. It has no basis for that under international law. It would be repudiated by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, UNCLOS, for example.

I want to know, therefore, what is happening in respect of Rockall and will it form a robust part of these negotiations when our Government engages with the British Government? I know that this is EU to British Government level, but will our Government insist that the EU asserts the right of our fishermen in that regard?