Tom Sheahan (Kerry South, Fine Gael)

For a long time, I was wondering whether the Minister of State was going to answer the question. He was just getting to it when the Acting Chairman intervened. At last week's Joint Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, it was stated, as regards box 6A and the total ban on whitefish fishing — cod, haddock etc. — that there was inadequate scientific evidence. When the Minister of State goes to Europe, will he be fighting this proposal? In the event, on what grounds will he be fighting? We have had part decommissioning which I understood to mean fewer boats and more fish for each boat. If we are to close fisheries such as this, will there be another round of decommissioning?

The fishermen in the Celtic Sea, in the south and south-east coast, close the fishery for cod and white fish during the spawning season. Why has this not been tried in box 6, rather than having a full blanket ban on it? If box 6A is closed, I imagine that those who are fishing whitefish in that area will then move to the Celtic Sea, and that will be fished out. No measures have been put in place to save this fishery. All of a sudden it has been decided to close it. This has been tried before in different fisheries. Funnily enough, either on legal grounds or whatever, when these matters were taken to court, the Minister was defeated in different fisheries.

We know of the consequences for the Lisbon treaty because of the way fishermen had been treated. However, as regards the consequences of this, I should have preferred if more proactive measures had been introduced over a number of years rather than a full blanket ban.

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