Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

This leaves us in an anomalous situation whereby we will have a control regime in place, the new fishery protection authority, and tough and appropriate penalties and criminal sanctions for our fishermen but that other fleets will seemingly be able to go on unhindered. It is very unlikely that the Minister will be able to bring forward any fundamental measure in this regard in the remainder of the lifetime of this Government.

When we look at the fisheries scoreboard for 2005 a significant number of countries are castigated, including Ireland, not just in terms of quota overruns but also in terms of reporting and the dismal failure of the Department to carry out its statutory duties over three years. The other clear conclusion of the scoreboard is that a large number of countries need to comply with the Common Fisheries Policy. Ireland, with its vast and important waters, is one of these countries.

I have represented my party on this issue for most of the past three years. We have heard about the establishment of the Community Fisheries Control Agency in Vigo in Spain. I remember suggesting that such an agency be sited in Killybegs, which could have been a very interesting development and could have led to Killybegs becoming the fisheries capital of Europe as well as Ireland. I think Vigo was chosen as the site of the agency for a reason.

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