Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State and compliment him on hitting the ground running. He has visited most parts of the country and has been very accessible to all organisations and to Members of the Houses and that is important. It is important also that he has delegated responsibilities. I recall the days when I had them back in the early noughties and it was vitally important. It is great that we now have a committee that meets to deal with fish and maritime issues and is not the poor relation of agriculture. It was very difficult to get parliamentary question responses and I hope the day will come when we will get a Minister answering parliamentary questions not as part of agriculture, etc., but as part of fisheries.

I recall Michel Barnier, who negotiated Brexit, speaking in this House and he looked me straight in the eye and said that fisheries would be safe because they would be inextricably linked with trade. I was foolish enough to accept that. Fisheries have been a disaster as a result of Brexit. Colleagues have outlined the millions of euro we have lost over recent years.

I cannot understand how anyone could have welcomed, from a fisheries perspective, the statement after the EU-UK summit, which was the first summit since Brexit, on 19 May. This will continue until 2038, when the losses will have escalated, some say, up to €600 million or €800 million. It will certainly be north of €600 million as a result of that. The Minister said that we had input but did we have input, through Europe being the negotiator, at ministerial or official level? I cannot understand how we or anyone involved in the maritime sector could have welcomed this. It will be 2038 before there will be a further agreement.

We have lost a considerable amount. Let us remember that the fishing industry is located along the coast in an area where there is no alternative source of employment. We largely depend on this. The Minister of State saw that at Castletownbere, Dunmore East and Killybegs the finest vessels are tied up. There are opportunities for some of those vessels to avail of fishing opportunities in other parts of the world. The Minister of State has taken a particular interest in this. It may not have worked out this year, but it is incumbent upon the Department of the marine to assist those vessel owners who are prepared to try to supplement their income from the reduced quotas for various fish, whether these are commercial or pelagic, and to find a way out for them, so they do not have deregister and reregister. I understand that is much too difficult. We should smooth that out.

Barnier is the one who has to take a lot of the responsibility for this. We must also ensure there will be additional funding from Europe for the sector as a result of the losses we have incurred over the past number of years. I have been there and done-----