Mr. Cathal Groonell:

In addition to that, the Deputy is saying quota is allocated to factories and that might be a competition issue but all these fishing companies are companies. It is not like the old days when there was a skipper-owner and a sole trader. These are companies, and that quota is allocated to the companies. In that respect and in terms of competition, there is no difference between what is happening and what we are proposing. I do not see an issue in terms of competition or otherwise because that quota is being allocated to companies year in, year out. It is just to allocate it in a way that will help to maintain jobs in coastal communities as opposed to simply handing it to companies that will go wherever they want with it. If we are serious about regional development and keeping jobs in these communities, we have to look more closely at how we do the business. The Deputy said that these guys pay big money for a quota with entitlement. Many of these are the original boats that were there when quotas came in. They got tonnage on the boats and so on so. They own the tonnage and kilowatts but if they went out afterwards and paid €5 million or €6 million for a boat with an entitlement, for example, it comes back to the question as to who owns that quota. It always comes back to that question, and it needs to be clarified.