Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the witnesses. Like my colleagues, I refer to the presentation. It is very readable, rather than all of it being scripted. Others could possibly learn from this.

I look at the €1.4 billion turnover. Unfortunately, I am around long enough to remember when we thought it was an historic day when BIM was in Ballsbridge - a long time ago before it transferred to Dún Laoghaire - when it had a turnover of €100 million. This is ten times or 14 times more. By the same token, however, there possibly were many more people in the rural areas of Donegal employed because all of the fish at that time were coming into the Irish ports and pelagic species into Killybegs. I remember well that factories were buzzing throughout all of the winter period and not just with mackerel, because mackerel came much later. Mackerel only came in the mid-seventies. Prior to that, mackerel were seen to be the scavengers of the sea and they were going straight to fishmeal. I was involved at the time of the Olympics in Munich, when we shipped out samples of mackerel to Europe. We flew them out and they came back immediately, saying they want as much as they can get, and we were getting it. They were all being either filleted or round frozen, the same as the herrings. That is just looking back on those years. There are fewer people now, possibly with a much higher volume and in higher value employment now than they were in those days. It sustained small farmers who were working the farm at the appropriate time of year and were then available to work in the fish factories at a later stage. That is to give some background.

I think all of us would like to have seen all the Brexit adjustment reserve spent here - more than €7 million at the time - but the witnesses gave an answer in respect of those not complying with the regulations that were laid down by Europe. I think the regulations should have been less severe. At the time, all of Europe realised that we, more than any other European maritime state, suffered more as a result of Brexit, which was referenced. We were here last week with the Minister. We were told at the time that Brexit would continue until 2038. The Minister said the UK industry is saying they are not happy with it. If I was in that industry, I would say the same thing. Looking at facts and speaking with the head rather than the heart, we were badly affected as a result of that, and the board has no control over that. Something else it has no control over is TACs and quotas, and that is the basis of all of the processing. I am being parochial here but when I look to Killybegs, what efforts have been made by the board to assist those in Killybegs who are suffering as a result of the drastic reduction in the quotas, particularly of mackerel?

Look at the landings into Killybegs by Irish vessels. They are worth €87 million in terms of value and there is €20 million in terms of value coming into Killybegs of non-Irish landings. Unfortunately, all of those are not going for processing, I presume. The witnesses might clarify if they are going for fishmeal and we are just a dumping ground. It is good to have them for fishmeal because they have to survive as well, but €20 million, which is 62,500 tonnes, is coming in from non-Irish landings as against 113,000 tonnes, a little over twice that, coming in from Irish vessels. We also know that a lot of our vessels land where it is more convenient and more economic to land. We would like to think all of them would come back into Killybegs or into Ireland but unfortunately it does not happen that way. If there are to be foreign landings into Killybegs, I would like to think those are landings that would be landing fish that could be processed for human consumption. I know it is not an issue for the witnesses here as they do not have the responsibility over the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, but there are serious issues there. It was heartbreaking to see earlier in the year when there was blue whiting going directly to fishmeal and it could have gone for human consumption. If it goes through the due processes and the weighing on the pier then it is too late at that stage and stocks of quality fish are lost. No one can give a good explanation for that. We will be asking the body responsible for that. I am only saying it by way of reference to it. It does have serious implications. My question is what is BIM doing to assist the processing sector in Killybegs that has been affected as a result of this? There was a short window of opportunity to apply for-----