Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I really appreciate that Chair because I am not a member of this committee, as he knows. I welcome the witnesses here today, particularly Eamon from Belmullet.

I will ask a couple of quick questions together. We have been fighting for a long time for the fair distribution of quotas. What rationale has the Minister given for not addressing the fact that 95% of the fishing fleet is getting less than 1% of the mackerel quota and only 5% of the herring quota?

The other question is, why do the inshore fishermen get none of the €420 million when they provide 53% of the jobs?

In terms of the redistribution of the quota and the lack of data that was there previously, so to speak, is it the situation that fishermen on the 1,600 inshore boats are being forced to conceal the full catch because they do not have the quota?

In terms of the single payment, is there another country where there is a subsidy like that? There is the single farm payment; is there a single boat payment anywhere else? Has any costing been done on doing such a payment here? It could take into account the actual monetary layout, the jobs it would save and the contribution to the community it would make. Any of the witnesses can address these questions.