Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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Yes. I am connecting it to the next question. The Minister announced money under the inshore assessment scheme, which was welcome. The inshore fishermen welcomed and appreciated it, but the amount that will be given does not come close to what is needed. There is not a crewman or inshore boat in Ireland that has not lost €10,000 a year in recent years. They are asking for a support scheme to be put together before Christmas for inshore fishermen in Ireland. They say a scheme must be put in place that will be guaranteed to compensate them for the difficulties they are going through. I might be talking about the pelagic fleet in a moment but the inshore sector is also suffering. Many fishermen have told me that the way things are going, they cannot meet their mortgages and they could lose their homes. We must look at the situation in the long term and see if a solution can be put in place for inshore fishermen.