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

It is a pity we could not have this meeting the other way round, that is, the fish producer organisations presenting first in order that the Minister could observe and respond. It is a pity the Minister's schedule did not permit that. It would have been a much more productive way of doing things. However, we have the submissions from the producer organisations and they make for sober reading. In particular, the submission from the Irish Fish Producers Organisation is disturbing. That is the only way to describe it. If we look at fish processing per country, Ireland had a total value of €627 million in 2015. In 2020, that had decreased to €325 million. It almost halved in five years. That is the context of these negotiations. In the lead-up to Brexit, we saw the halving of the value of our processing industry. That is devastating.

We then get into the landing of Irish vessels. As I am my party's spokesperson on fisheries and the marine, I have seen a lot of data but this submission is utterly devastating. The landing of Irish vessels was reduced by a third between 2012 and 2021. The landing of foreign vessels has increased by 145%. That says what it says. The Irish fishing industry is declining and more and more foreign vessels are landing here. The gap is widening all the time. In turnover, Ireland went from third in value as a seafood industry down to tenth. It should be remembered that we have one of the longest coastlines, certainly in comparison with northern European countries. This is an immense resource we have. How can the value of our seafood processing industry have been halved before Brexit? I will get to Brexit in a second.

I assume this submission can be made available to the Minister. Is that correct, Chair?