Manus Boyle (Fine Gael)
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I congratulate the Chair on his appointment. I am delighted to see this committee up and going. To be honest, one of the fights I had for a couple of years was to try to get this committee through the programme for Government, and we have got that done. I am delighted to see it and it is great to be here today

As we know, the fishing industry is in bad shape. It is to be hoped, with this committee, we have an avenue to fight back for the fishing industry. As Deputy Gallagher said, quotas play a big part and our quotas have been decimated for years. All we did was give away and we never got anything back in return. We cannot sustain that. Europe is part of the problem. I was out there for one day with the fishing organisations and I could see we are not on the playing field out there. I hope that is something we can work on.

Deputy Gallagher said a lot of what I was going to say. We should try to get the Commissioner before the committee, if that is possible, although I do not know if it is. We need a fair playing field. Ireland did not get a fair playing field in the past 20 years. Brexit had a big say in it but, at the end of the day, we gave away a lot and all we heard coming back was that we were lucky to get the deal we had. Our people in Europe need to step up and be up for the fight. All we have done is give away and give away.

I support the point regarding the emergency services. At the end of the day, it is a lifeline for fishermen and fisherwomen off the coast. They have to be supported.

The committee should visit the six fishery harbour centres to see how they operate, and how boats are tied up for nine months of the year when everybody else is out fishing. I propose we try to visit the six fishery harbour centres so we can see first-hand how the ships are tied up when everybody else is working away. It is totally unfair.

I am glad the fightback is on here. As Deputy Gallagher said, we need to pull in the national organisations to try to get answers. We do not want waffle. This is my first day in a committee but I have looked at committees and I see how people run down the clock. We need to get them in here to answer the questions. That is it.