Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not envy the Minister his job. I know it is a tough one but we are here to represent the fishermen. In my county, prawns, mackerel and monkfish are very important to the area. It is very sustainable. It is worth about €60 million. We are talking about serious money. We must realise that this industry is a wealthy one. It is lucrative. Why are the other countries so much involved in it? We cannot run down our own.

We just got this document about an hour and a half ago. I will go through some of the information. The Minister says there are no other national sharing arrangements. The Minister says discussions have been going on throughout 2023 but there are only two months left in the year. What is the exact situation with the coastal agreements?

The Minister admits the high quotas for mackerel for third countries is unacceptable. Fair play to him, he said he raised the issue, which is fair enough, but do we have anyone backing us in that way in the European Union? The Minister made a reference to what will happen if the behaviour continues but it is going to continue. There is no point in saying it will not continue. He admitted to us that it is unacceptable.

Fishermen are looking at the meeting today. There is a reduction on every page we look at. Mackerel has reduced by 5% and herring by 24%. The Minister says that the reduction per tonne for the industry is 6%. There are references to €12.4 million, €9.2 million and €3.2 million. It is down again by about €24.6 million. These are serious jobs. We must remember that for every one job at sea there are four on land. It is a serious issue. Restaurants are affected and delivery men must be taken into account as well, apart from engineers and others. It is said that 268 full-time equivalent jobs are at risk. I suggest there are far more because other people are involved in this as well.

The Minister spoke about the extra quotas and the Hague preferences. That is vital. We cannot go in hoping that we will get it. This is not a game, it is people's livelihoods and it is a very valuable asset to our country. If the Minister could answer those few questions I would be quite happy.