Mr. Aodh ? Domhnaill:

I missed part of the question but I think it is to do with the quota setting process and the delays around that. We have had experience here in Brussels and have come out here to meet MEPs. We have had good support from them with Mr. Colm Markey, MEP, who is with Fine Gael he is a stand-in on the fisheries committee. He has joined us to represent us at the fisheries committee to raise issues that are important to us, particularly relating to the Norwegian access issue, which is an important issue for us nationally. We have also participated with Mr. Chris McManus, MEP, who has also brought a delegation from the industry out. It is part of getting to know people within the Commission and it is important for us to understand that from an Ireland Inc point of view the real decision-making when it comes to negotiating for quotas is with the commission. We have a team of three or four people who are negotiating quotas on behalf of Europe and Ireland and a lot of this work is mandated by the Commission, happens behind closed doors, and there are all sorts of interests. We work together with the industry representatives to try to improve the situation. We fight the good fight.

The message we have on quotas and the treatment of Ireland is that Europe sees Ireland in some ways as being a soft touch in the way we have been hit by Brexit. They realise that we have been really badly treated. They put the Brexit Adjustment Reserve, BAR, funding in place which is a stopgap measure and is actually down-sizing the fleet. It has not been spent as was intended so we really have to pick up the fight at home. Our Minister, our Government, and our whole-of-government approach has to take the sector seriously. We have to go into Europe at Commission level and fight for our sector. If we do not have that united front, we will diminish and shrink further and we have lost approximately 50% of our sector over the past ten years. The Germans, for example, have four times the processing capacity of Ireland at 2.4 million. One Dutch company's combined consolidated turnover is in excess of the total Irish turnover, including aquaculture, and, therefore, we are losing out. We have the most productive waters in Europe but if we do not get quotas or manage the access, we are on a downhill slide. We need to lift our gallop collectively and we need to get support at Government level and at departmental level to fight the case.