Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)

I welcome both Ministers and the Department officials. This discussion and its timing are of critical importance as the industry continues to fight against the tide, if I may be excused the pun, of negativity and disillusionment throughout the industry.

The e-mail to which Deputies Creed and Sherlock referred encapsulated a plethora of issues within the industry. If there is one element which stabs at the heart of the fishing industry, it is the criminalisation of the industry. If the Minister has sat in a room for nine hours with fishermen, this issue would have been at the forefront of discussion. People in the industry do not want to be condoning the fact they want to break laws but they want addressed the simple matter of a fisherman who fails to register a catch by making a telephone call upon entering a port who can be taken to court the following morning. That is an example of how extreme and disastrous is the scheme. Criminalisation stabs the industry in the heart. This issue must be addressed and it can be addressed in national legislation.

Ireland has 25% of EU waters. We have got consistently bad deals from Europe. I will not take this opportunity to make recriminations, apportion blame or remember when mistakes were made. Despite Ireland having 25% of EU waters, when I go to restaurants in Donegal proprietors tell me they do not know if fish will be available to them in the long term. In coastal areas restaurateurs are fearful of being unable to maintain fish on their menus. That is a disgrace.

We must expedite the €20 million tie-up scheme. We must also be very cautious regarding the mistakes we made with regard to the decommissioning scheme. Deckhands, skippers and mates were not included in the decommissioning scheme. If there is to be a tie-up scheme we must ensure that they are included in the package.

A sea fisheries Bill is proposed for 2008. We have an opportunity to retrain fishermen, deckhands, skippers and first mates and make them officers of the merchant navy. I accept that this does not come within the remit of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and crosses to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Nevertheless, some interdepartmental initiative must deal with the retraining of fishermen who are currently idle.

I welcome the fact that the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Minister of State are taking this matter seriously and that the Minister, Deputy Smith, is in the House for this debate on a Thursday afternoon with the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen. Deputies on the Government side have referred to the good work the Minister and Minister of State are doing. However, we have made a fundamental mistake with regard to the fishing community. The lack of political leadership has allowed a vacuum to develop. While I do not propose to take a swipe at departmental officials, fishermen have felt that the Department has been running the fishing industry for the past decade. This is not good enough. The fishing industry requires political leadership and accountability to fishermen. A single person must take charge of the industry, which has been rocked to the core for a decade. I ask the Minister to continue with what he is doing. Coastal communities need guidance and they need someone to take charge. This has been missing for many years.

See this speech in context