Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister and his officials, as well as the members. The three members present, along with me, were part of the sub-committee which did the report on the coastal and island communities. A couple of other members have demonstrated a consistent commitment to the sector. The observations of Deputies Ferris and Pringle were that if an agricultural agenda had been set, we would have had a bigger number of Deputies, Senators and members of the media present. That is not to say the people here are not committed to supporting the Minister and his officials. We are fortunate to have very experienced officials and two reputable organisations like Bord Iascaigh Mhara gathering data. If it would be of help to the effort, the committee could write to the Commission, seeking that it take on board the scientific data available before making any recommendations. It should accept any new scientific data that the Minister might have in his armoury at the meetings.

On 16 December, the second day of the Council meeting, we will get a briefing from an official about draft guidelines for state aid to the fisheries sector and aquaculture. What we propose as an exception for the Irish case could be steered by the outcomes of negotiations if a particular sector is victimised, for want of a better word. We can make a submission along those lines. The most telling comment from the Minister is that in whatever period he has been involved with politics, trust between the people gathering scientific data and fishermen has grown and they now want to work together. That demonstrates how far the fishing industry has come in the past 20 years. We should be able to make that case in Europe to our benefit.