Michael Comiskey (Fine Gael)
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I thank the officials for their presentation on the fisheries industry. I do not come from a fishing county. I am learning a little as I go along. I have been lobbied by a number of fishing organisations. The progress being made on whole area of disregards is very welcome. That is a good move. We all agree that it does not make any sense to be throwing perfectly good fish overboard.

The second point I would like to make reminds me of a debate we had earlier about farmers in the west and the east in the context of the single farm payment. A similar problem arises at sea when bigger trawlers come in and take away the livelihoods of smaller fishermen. Deputy Ó Cuív referred to that issue. Having been lobbied by a local group, I know that a number of jobs have been created in the Galway area recently on foot of work done by the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to get quotas allocated to smaller fishermen. That has to be a good thing. It is important to support those who have depended on fishing over the years, even if they might have had a small way of working or might have caught different species. As I said, it is like the question of small farmers versus big farmers. We have to look after the smaller people as well. It will create jobs in smaller areas.