Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 11 May 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Fishing Industry: Discussion

Photo of Christopher O'SullivanChristopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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I will give Mr. Murphy another chance to take the floor so he can continue his soliloquy in a moment. I know most of our guests were probably tuned in to the previous session with the SFPA. There is an opportunity now to answer, clarify, or correct some of the statements made by the SFPA, or agree with them, whichever way you want to look at it.

Deputy Collins touched on the fact that the SFPA said it engages extensively with the sector. I think Mr. Murphy has just answered that. It was said that in the whitefish sector, for example, going back to the situation whereby they were weighing on the piers, that is just a return to what was happening ten years ago. It is my understanding that was not happening ten years ago, that was not the situation that pertained and that fish have always been weighed in plants, markets or whatever else. I would like clarification on that.

My next question is for whichever witness can answer it. Are the witnesses confident about the data the SFPA sent to the Commission when this audit was being carried out? I would love to give Mr. Murphy an opportunity to emphasise clearly and as much as possible what needs to happen with the fallout from the Brexit trade agreement, what it means for the Irish fishing sector and, essentially, what needs to happen now in terms of our approach to burden sharing and sharing with other EU countries. I would like another opportunity to hear him speak on that. He should be given the opportunity to clarify that further. I hope those questions were clear enough.