Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank all the witnesses for answering the questions. Even now I am learning about this. One of the things I am still confused about, and about which I asked Mr. Patrick Murphy, is the trading of quota. There was talk of trade. Before Mr. Murphy left, I spoke to him again about it. He said that if a producers' organisation, PO, has a share of quota that its fishers are not able to use, the PO somehow trades it with another PO. We talked about the 1% of the quota which would be needed by the islanders - 1% of mackerel, of herring or of something else. On a particular island, it may not be used or needed. Can that be traded off? Does that happen? Is there some kind of quota trading going on?

I think the EU has 17 sustainable development goals. Sustainable development goal 14 is about protecting our waters as a natural environment. While this Bill provides an opportunity for fishermen to make a living, it has another aspect. It is also about protecting that environment. The custodians of that environment will be the fishermen, both the small-scale fishermen who live on the shoreline and those that live on the islands. I fully take on board the producer organisations' argument that the small-scale fishers that live on the mainland face similar issues. If we can do this, if we can produce this piece of legislation to work for the islanders, some version of this may work for those other producers later on. First, we have to try to do something for the most clean-cut sector that we can find, as a model. The most clean-cut sector we can find is the fishermen that live on the islands.

When we get through this, we will have to look at tabling a number of amendments to clarify issues in the Bill. We will have to clarify that the heritage licence is about getting a portion of quota, and that the only people who will be entitled to get a portion of quota are people who already have a fishing licence for a fishing vessel. We also need to make provisions for the rules on how to qualify for a heritage fishing licence and how to maintain it. Sanctions may need to be put in place. My understanding is that the producer organisations have some of the capacity to implement or set some of those rules at present. Mr. Murray and mentioned that the Irish Islands Marine Resource Organisation, IIMRO, is trying to develop into a producer organisation in its own right. Is it the intention of IIMRO to be the agency that would distribute and manage this quota and ensure that it is done in the best interests of the island fishermen? Is that the IIMRO's intention if we get this Bill through, or would Mr. Murray see that as something that will be done by others? That is a simple question. I always feel that where possible we should try to put the power to help people in the hands of those in need of the help, rather than somewhere else. I would like to hear the witnesses' views in respect of that.

The big stumbling block here seems to be that some sectors feel that by doing this we set a bad precedent, that we are in some way moving a piece of quota into private hands. Mr. Murray said that there are fewer than 3,000 people living on the islands at the moment. Is it felt that the island community somehow does not deserve some special consideration to reflect the way the environment around it puts it in the position it is in?