Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and Deputy Mac Lochlainn. It would have been preferable to have the fishing organisations earlier rather than later. I have certainly spoken to them earlier. I have been engaging with them on an ongoing basis. I met them approximately ten days ago for three hours. I also met them not so long before that to discuss these issues. There is nothing new in this to me. I am fully plugged into and battling for the national position. I am working closely with industry representatives on that and I encourage industry representatives to take the battle to their industry colleagues in other member states. As the Deputy will be aware, in the same way as I respond to the Irish fishing sector to try to support it and get the best possible outcome for it, other governments do the same for their industries. It is important our industry brings that argument to the European industry arena and navigates there, as I do at a political level in Europe.

I received the request to attend the committee last week. That was short notice for me but I did my best to accommodate it as I wanted to be here. In the same way as my schedule did not allow me to attend later, the option was open to the committee to accommodate the meeting earlier. I did my best to be here and I am sure the committee also had its logistical challenges around not being able to facilitate it the other way around.

Regarding the figures the Deputy presented about the processing industry and other figures over the years, there are variables. They include what we catch and what we take in for processing from other fleets. As the Deputy will be aware, most of our processing plants, especially in Killybegs, are active, not only in landing every piece of Irish quota possible into our processing factories but also trying to be competitive in attracting all fish from any fleet. The more fish that comes in, the more there is to process, the more fish we add value to and the more employment is created in our processing sector. That is something they are proactive on. It can vary. On the overall figures in processing over the years-----