Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)

I thank the representatives from the various organisations for attending. I have heard nothing today that I have not heard previously. It brings me back to 2005 when I had responsibility for the marine. I received numerous calls from fishermen from the sides of piers around the country informing me about the damage being caused to fish coming out of refrigerated sea water tanks into ambient temperatures and back in again. That immediately caused problems. It affected the quality of the fish. I realised how futile that was. I took it upon myself, together with the officials in the Department, to meet with Commissioner Borg from Malta and explain to him how ludicrous this system was. Weighing the fish on the pier before it was brought to the factories was affecting the quality. He had to come to Ireland to witness first-hand what was happening. This culminated in a meeting I had with him and officials from both sides. He agreed that what was being done was futile. He agreed to allow the majority of the fish to be weighed in the factories. This lasted for a long time and resolved many difficulties, particularly in relation to quality. Unfortunately, it changed sometime later. I was told going into that meeting that while we had a number of pelagic species, such as herring, mackerel, horse mackerel and blue whiting, we should only concentrate on one or two of those species to sell this to the Commission. I informed them that it was all or nothing. They are all pelagic fish. That resulted in the Commissioner and his officials agreeing to the fish being weighed in the factories provided they came from within 48 miles of the port of Killybegs. This was because there were no weighing facilities in Rathmullan and Kincaslough. It worked extremely well but now it has gone in the other direction. We recently witnessed the futility of good quality blue whiting coming into Killybegs and it having to be weighed. If it has to be weighed in the factory, there is only way it can go; when they come up the pier, they turn right and head for the fishmeal factory. We should be trying to ensure that those fish are processed for human consumption but it is not happening.

The Act has to be reviewed. We have a Common Fisheries Policy but it is being implemented differently and sensibly in all of the other maritime states apart than Ireland. I cannot understand why we are doing this. I expect that representatives from the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, is looking in today to hear what we have to say. I would prefer to be looking the SFPA officials straight in the eye and ask them why they are doing this to the detriment of the sector. As one or two of the witnesses have pointed out, other nationalities could come into Ireland with their fish and process it here. However, they know if they come in at present their catch will be going to fishmeal, which lowers the price. They are at an advantage to go back to their own countries and land them there.

I was furious when the penalty points system was introduced. It is in no other country and it is an administrative fine. In 2016 or 2017, I took it on myself to introduce a motion in the Dáil to rescind that statutory instrument. It was the first time in the history of the State that a statutory instrument was overturned. It was overturned because we went and explained it to all of the TDs. The penalty points system came to an end in 2020 with a stroke of a pen.

It is not good enough. The courts are being clogged up with these cases. We know that all of the cases brought to court after Killybegs and other places were raided went nowhere. There was not even an apology for doing this. We must ensure there is a fairness to this system. As members of this committee, we must ensure there is fairness and equality and that we are treated the same as the rest of Europe. We will have to meet with the Minister having heard from the members. We will also have to ensure there is a review of this and that it is implemented in a fair fashion. We cannot have a regulator who is responsible unless it is fair. There is no reason the oversight body should not be updated as soon as members resign or move elsewhere. We cannot have self-regulation without oversight. What about the Wolfe report? What about PcW report? What about the Moran report? What happened to them? They are lying on shelves. They made recommendations but nothing has happened. The reason for this is that it does not suit some of the people who are in authority.