Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)

It will be very difficult to articulate a counter-argument after the impressive contribution from the maritime county of Longford by Deputy Peter Kelly. It is a sign of the quality of this debate that people are being rolled out to defend the indefensible. I was remiss not to mention Dublin North also. I congratulate Deputies Jim O'Keeffe and Creed for working on this issue over a long time and their work is the result of much time and research.

The Minister will be aware of the work involved in fishing. A fisherman must know how to navigate, he endures intermittent sleep patterns while searching for fish and he must also manage a business. If his catch is four or five kilos overweight, he could end up with a criminal prosecution. That is the weight of pressure on these men. A psychological issue arises whereby the fishing community feels discriminated against. Its members do not believe there is a level playing pitch. They look at our neighbours in the European Union, across the water in the United Kingdom and at the administrative sanctions in force in Northern Ireland.

We must consider our role within the North-South Ministerial Council. Northern Ireland has an administrative and judicial system under devolved government and led by Mr. Ford of the Alliance Party. I suggest we should consider an integrated marine policy under the mechanism of the Good Friday Agreement. Integrated marine policy is one of the aspects of the Good Friday Agreement and the St. Andrews Agreement.

This is a maritime country, an island nation. Every day, fishermen are throwing perfectly good fish overboard, as a result of the nonsense rules introduced for small fishermen.

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