Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)

The first issue that arises in regard to this Bill is the virtually unanimous opposition that has been voiced across the fishing sector and which has been reflected in this House by representatives of different parties. I commend the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy O'Flynn, on his role in highlighting the deficiencies of the legislation and in seeking the advice of senior counsel in taking those concerns, which are shared by committee members, to Europe.

This Bill is before us on the pretence it is urgently required to protect Irish taxpayers from massive EU fines. This is not the case. Another pretence is that it merely represents a consolidation of existing legislation and serves to correct loopholes in the law arising from a number of Supreme Court cases. This too is untrue. This legislation is evidence of the craven bankruptcy of the fishing policies of this and preceding Governments for many years. It presents fishermen as criminals and seeks to doubly criminalise them. It represents the failure of successive Governments to give any attention to the needs of the fishing industry and amounts to the selling out of one of our most valuable natural resources. The entire approach of the Bill is to discriminate further against Irish fishermen, who catch only 10% of the fish around our coasts. It goes further in setting staging sanctions in place in criminal law which are a recipe to drive decent fishermen underground or leave what was once a proud and noble industry.

It is significant that of the 16 MEPs elected in this country in the 2004 European Parliament election, 14 have signed a letter sent to Deputy O'Flynn, supporting the committee in calling for changes to be made to reflect the grave concerns expressed. In particular, the signatories contend there must be proportionality and fairness in the sanctions imposed by EU member states for fishing violations. They also point out that despite the claims made by defenders of the Bill, the sanctions it contains are not being imposed by the EU. They observe that the sanctions aspect of the Bill is "the sole responsibility of the Irish authorities, on a proposal from their Civil Service".

The fishing sector is clearly outraged by the proposals. In representations made to other Deputies and me, the most common theme is that the fishing industry sees the legislation as a further attempt to criminalise fishermen. Apart altogether from the level of fines that are proposed, fishermen are outraged by the provision contained in section 18 of the Bill for naval patrol vessels to fire live ammunition into fishing boats. I welcome the commitment given by the Minister in this regard today. Most of us have seen the photograph in this morning's newspapers of the Minister for Defence, the toy soldier, aiming a gun at the public. This was the experience for many of us involved in the fishing industry in the 1980s, particularly off the west coast.

The fishing organisations have also stressed that they are not opposed to conservation measures. From my knowledge and experience as a fisherman, the best people to conserve our fishing stocks are fishermen themselves. Those involved in fishing lobsters off the west coast have used notching as a means of conserving the industry. In my own area of Tralee Bay, fishermen are to the forefront in conserving stocks. There would be no stock left were it not for the efforts of fishermen, who are best suited to engage in and have an appreciation of conservation. They of all people have most reason to wish to see stocks preserved because if they are destroyed, it is the fishermen who will suffer as their industry is forced out of existence.

Fishermen do not accept, however, that they and their communities should bear the major part of the responsibility for stock management. Unlike other member states, the fishing organisations here do not even have a statutory involvement in stock management. They also rightfully believe that the major reason stocks in Irish waters have been depleted is the disproportionate part of the quota that may be taken by vessels from other member states. That is evident to those of us who live in coastal communities such as my own in the south west. Foreign vessels and vessels of convenience are taking the stocks from our waters with impunity. The Minister of State comes from a coastal community and must be aware of this. In addition to this problem is the existence of a massive imbalance within the Irish fleet in favour of one large operator which seems to have been allowed swallow up a greater part of the Irish quota at the expense of smaller operators who are finding it increasingly difficult to survive.

In the current atmosphere of distrust and concern, many fishermen are genuinely convinced that there are those within the Department who see this legislation as a means of forcing more of them out of business. In such a scenario, will we be left with one factory ship registered here, dividing the Irish quota with large operators from other member states? Is that what those who drafted this Bill want to see? It is the view of fishermen throughout the State. It is my view and that of Sinn Féin. Current policy is having a devastating effect on traditional fishing activity.

As pointed out by fishing representatives, this Bill should not only be opposed but the debate on it should lead us to question the entire basis under which the fisheries sector is regulated, or rather misregulated. Sinn Féin has pointed out for years the scandalous terms under which our fisheries were sacrificed in the early 1970s as part of the negotiations for EEC membership. One of our potentially most valuable resources was in large part given away, to the extent that the value of fish taken from our waters by other EU fleets since accession outweighs the value of all direct payments received from the EU since 1973. The last calculation I saw for this, some three years ago, put the value of that catch at €40 billion. These facts were completely ignored by a certain journalist who wrote in praise of this Bill some weeks ago and accused fishermen and political opponents of the Bill of being opportunists.

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