Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 14 October 2025

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Fisheries and Maritime Affairs

Quotas, Common Fisheries Policy and Sustainability Impact Assessment: Discussion

2:00 am

Photo of Charles WardCharles Ward (Donegal, 100% Redress Party)
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This is devastating for the communities, as the Minister of State well knows. I will get straight into it. Does he intend to continue to engage with the communities regarding this? I refer to the fishing communities especially but also the public. There is a massive service industry that relies on the fishing industry. I understand the Minister of State referred to short cuts and all that but when the fishing industry is affected, and it affects the hotels that employ people and the businesses and shops that people go to, that equals a problem in these rural communities, especially in and around Killybegs, where there is unease and fear. I understand what the Minister of State said about the Covid measures but it needs to come across, especially for fishing industries and towns, that it is known we have a problem which will take time and that everybody who lives off the fishing industry will be looked after. That is vital, especially in Killybegs. Historically, it is a fishing town. It has history but the community now also has fear and anxiety. I encourage the Minister of State to engage with the community. It is very important for these towns up and down the country where the fishing industry provides jobs that there is clear communication.

Is there anything Ireland can do, separately from the EU, to seek redress from Norway and the Faroe Islands for the destruction of the herring and mackerel stocks? What is the Minister of State's opinion on zonal attachments? It is a strategic weapon, I would say, that these other countries use which we do not. That is all I have got to say. I am conscious of the time.