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

I will not speak further about Rockall. It has been two and a half years and almost three years. It is an outrageous position that the British Government is taking, and I would ask that it would be dealt with. It has to be on the agenda as part of these negotiations. It is extreme bad faith.

The next number of questions will address the part of the Minister’s presentation that dealt with the coastal states, as well as the difficulty with the non-coastal states. I particularly refer to this issue around Norway, the Faroe Islands and Iceland. The approach that they have taken unilaterally in defiance of the science that we all have to operate within is outrageous. The concerns are in terms of this 2% reduction in macro. There are the law abiders who are saying that there would need to be a 2% reduction based on the science. This is happening in the context of the behaviour by the Norwegians, the Faroese and the Icelandic. Iceland has built up a huge fishing industry that was not there before. I want to get a sense of how this has been allowed to continue. There is a fear that some of the corporations that have invested in these fishing opportunities and companies have too much of an influence at European Commission level. Some of them are based in the European member states. How can the Minister stand over asking Irish fisherman to play by the rules as they are based in science - which is fair enough and as he says in his presentation that is what they want to do - while on the other hand tolerating the situation with the Norwegians, Faroese and Icelandic? This is backed by huge investment from corporations, some of which are based in the European member states and some of which are availing of quota under the Common Fisheries Policy. Can the Minister make more comments on that?

My final couple of questions relate to the issue of the Hague references. We asked for what was called burden sharing, and some of the fishing organisations have recently spoken about levelling up, rather than burden sharing. The Minister might have heard that terminology in his engagement. This is about a fair share of the impact that comes from Brexit. That just cannot go away. The Minister has provided information on landings. Whatever way he presents the issue of what percentage of the fish we get from our own EEZ, whether this is value versus tonnage and that debate will go on, the fact is that if one looks at the wealth of our seafood sector, which is indisputable, we have gone down the league table. We have less of a value of a country like Belgium, which has a fraction of our coastline. We have a fraction of the wealth of the German seafood sector, even though we have a much bigger coastline. That cannot be stood over. We can debate back and forth on this.

I thank the Chair for his forbearance, my point is that this is a profound injustice. We are seeing our seafood sector decline. We are seeing the loss of thousands of potential jobs in coastal community. I just do not get a sense of anger towards this injustice at an Irish Government level. That is just the sense that is there.

The Minister has said he pushed for extending the 12 miles to 20 miles and that he was the only voice in there. At some point there has to be some challenge to the injustice of this. How is this based on environmental best standards when we have huge corporations investing in member states' quota and being rewarded while our own fleet is decommissioned to one third of what it was in 2006? I want to get a sense of the outrage of what is happening here and how it could be in line with the more admirable principles of the European Union. The stated principles are certainly admirable but the actions do not follow. I see corporations being rewarded that are investing in multiple member states. Anti-environmental practices are being rewarded. It is very hard to ask Irish fishing communities to step up when they do not see the same rules being applied either within the European member states or outside. We are partners with Norway, Faroe Islands and Iceland. These are strategic partners and we are tolerating this type of behaviour and abuse. I just do not feel the outrage about it.