Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

That is fine and I appreciate that. I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment. It is a vital development that we have two things, namely, a dedicated Minister of State dealing with fisheries and a dedicated committee dealing with fisheries. I know the committee is wider than just fisheries but they have a really strong emphasis. I and my colleague in Sinn Féin, the Chairperson of this committee, published a survey of fishermen, businesses and workers in the seafood industry. None of us who are listening to those communities will be shocked by the outcome, but it is devastating. Nine out of ten of those who responded said they would not encourage their children to continue in the tradition of fishing. Nine out of ten respondents felt they were in a worse position now than they were ten years ago. The respondents were from all around the coast. We have published the locations and there were hundreds of respondents. More important than the statistics, because none of that would shock us, are the actual testimonies. Respondents took time to write their stories and some of their quotations are published with the survey, which we will send to the Minister of State. It sets the scene for the huge challenge and responsibility he has. I commend him on having engaged with those in the industry - I have seen it at first hand - and I believe he is listening to those in the industry. That is a step in the right direction but we have to get to the point of having a plan for how we turn this around.

In terms of this subject matter, the Common Fisheries Policy, CFP, and Brexit, the submission from the Seafood Ireland Alliance is particularly important because it draws our attention to the fact that Brexit has probably cost our industry around €180 million at this stage and estimates that up to the end of this new deal, the 12-year extension, will cost us approximately €800 million in lost opportunities. That is a lot of money to those sectors. The Minister of State stated that is a negotiation between the British and the European Union and that is fair enough at that level, but the European Union must accept that Ireland has taken on an unfair burden from that negotiation. If the European Union is saying this is the best deal we can negotiate to give stability for 12 years, that is the Union's perspective, but the outcome of that is that it extends the injustice of what we have endured. With all due respect to it, the Brexit adjustment reserve fund does not go anywhere near dealing with that. I would like to get a sense of the Minister of State's plan.

Sinn Féin's manifesto referenced having a dedicated office in Europe called "Fish Ireland", similar to some of the work the IDA and others do in promoting trade but also working in partnership with our industry. It would be the Government and the industry united and promoting our sector but also, more importantly, reaching out to allies in Europe. There is the whole issue of the behaviour of Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Norway, whereby they are ignoring scientific evidence, overfishing mackerel and then getting a very good deal on other species and mackerel in trade. They are being rewarded for being irresponsible.

There is then the whole issue of carbon and climate.