Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I will get the figures for the Deputy as they run quite contrary to the public perception. There is quite a significant combined effort between the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, and the Naval Service in monitoring all compliance with fishing legislation by both Irish and other EU member state boats in our territorial waters. The figures for boarding and checking of compliance would surprise people, not just with respect to Irish boats but international boats as well. We have a different profile of our industry here and we have more medium boats. As many other countries have privatised the quotas asset, there are fewer and bigger factory ships. These attract adverse comment but we board them regardless of that to ensure compliance. The SFPA is very active in this regard and I can get the Deputy figures for boarding.