Mr. Gerard Kelly:

This type of voisinageagreement is supposedly made under Article 9.2 of the London Fisheries Convention. Obviously, it was not because the London Fisheries Convention was long done and this was not in it. It is not listed in any place in it. Once the United Kingdom pulls out of the London Fisheries Convention, Ireland should also pull out immediately. The United Kingdom is the only country with which we have reciprocity on area; therefore, when it pulls out, Ireland will have no access to that area under the London Fisheries Convention and in the meantime it would be giving access to depth to Germany, Belgium, Holland and France. We give them fishing rights in the six to 12 mile area but do not get anything back. Once Ireland stops getting something from the United Kingdom, we should also pull out of the agreement.

Deputy Willie Penrose asked about the licensing system being open to abuse. That is surprising because the representatives who appeared before the committee during the previous session, from the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, were not able to establish whether the mussel boats we had mentioned to them had fishing licences. We knew quite clearly that the UK mussel boats did not have fishing licences. The particular question of whether a vessel as licensed was asked, but the SFPA could not state whether such vessels were licensed. Vessels which had not been licensed were fishing in our waters year in and year out. That cost us our industry.