Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the witnesses for their submissions. I previously expressed my serious concern around the SFPA at the agriculture committee, which dealt with fisheries at the time. I want to go through the various points that have been made on accountability and the consistency of approach compared with other European member states.

First, I want to share a wee story for members here who might not be aware just how serious this is. I was invited a while back by a fish factory in Killybegs to examine how blue whiting was being landed and how it was being overseen. The blue whiting was landed into a truck that was obviously full of water. It is very important to keep it separated and keep it fresh with respect to it being marketed. Apparently, there was an insistence on weighing it at the harbour side. When you go up to the factory - I went up and looked at the whole operation - you see a conveyor belt. You can imagine the fish coming through on a conveyor belt and being weighed in real time. The actual weighing system was tied up with cable ties and was tamper-proof. I was learning one step at a time. The next thing I noticed was that there were cameras. I was told that the SFPA monitors this. I went upstairs and there was a range of monitors like you would see in a prison. The last time I saw something like that was when I visited the Long Kesh prison in the North. There might have been six or seven real-time monitors. Apparently, the SFPA was watching on the screen as the fish were being weighed. It also has access at any time to land at the factory and inspect the rear, go into the freezer or go anywhere else. It has full access. I do not know what industry in Ireland would facilitate cameras on what they are doing round the clock but that is what was happening in that factory, and that still was not good enough. The SFPA still wanted more. We are strangling our industry.

I am led to understand that if you look at the number of people directly involved in fishing and maybe the seafood industry, and measure that against the people who work in the range of agencies - the Department of the marine, BIM and SFPA - there might be more people working in those regulatory and oversight bodies than the industry itself. I wanted to say that at the outset. I have seen this with my own eyes and I am profoundly concerned about it. This meeting is not about my opinion, however - my opinion on this is fixed - it is to get the feedback of the witnesses.

I ask the witnesses to give us a sense of what the oversight is like in other member states. If you land at a harbour in another member state rather than at Castletownbere, Killybegs or one of the other harbours, what is the experience in other member states? How many personnel are there? How does Ireland compare, in the witnesses' experience?