Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. Can the Secretary General confirm that at the beginning of the negotiations Ireland made a strong protest that the whole regime is totally inequitable as we own 18% of the fish of Europe and yet are allocated a quota of 4%? I presume he can confirm that the Department made a strong stand that we are starting from the wrong place and that he will continue to make that stand until we get our proportionate allocation. I understand that if we had kept our fish we would have no national debt; in other words we have given a free present to Europe. I accept that Fianna Fáil was in government for most of those negotiations and it was one of the big mistakes it made and I opposed it.

On the issue of discards, I support any effort to reduce these in a practical way. The rules outlined by the Secretary General appear complicated and it will take some time to get my head around exactly how they will work and whether there will be unintended consequences. There are people who say there will be such consequences. However, the principle is bang on. It is absolutely wrong to take fish out of the sea, kill them and return them to the sea.

Will the Secretary General confirm whether the transferable fishing concessions are gone off the table and, if so, that it appears that fishing in Europe is being taken over by major companies, which does little for Ireland and its coastal communities? It is important that Mr. Moran dig his heels in on the Hague Preferences because while they are in that form they will always be seen as a concession. Every year one goes to Brussels there will be negotiations and the major concession will be to get back what one already had and should have permanently. This time we need to get it written in permanently that it is part of the regime and not something we get every Christmas as a present to keep the good kiddie quiet. There is a BIM programme for coastal communities the name of which escapes me but Mr. Beamish will be aware of it.