Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)

At the outset, I thank the Minister for providing this opportunity to have a debate on the Common Fisheries Policy and the Commission proposals that were published last week. It has been interesting to listen to the debate and I note there has been much mention of how the fishing industry was sold out to look after the farmers or for various reasons or because we did not know what we were doing. This is not the case, as what happened was that while Ireland was negotiating its accession to the EEC, as it then was, it changed the rules to make fishing the sole responsibility of the Commission before we joined. They set out to steal our resources because they knew what we had and we did not. Funnily enough, in correspondence I received from the former Taoiseach, Dr. Garret FitzGerald, Lord rest him, a number of years ago, he accepted that fact but stated in his letter that they did not treat us as badly again. They did not treat us as badly again because they were not obliged to. According to Deputy McHugh, they have taken €500 billion from the seas around our coast in the intervening period and have left us with the scraps. One million tonnes of fish are taken from our waters every year out of which we take 170,000 tonnes. Our boats are not allowed into the North Sea to fish as our so-called European partners exclude us from there, while keeping for themselves full access to the Irish west coast. Unfortunately, Members must consider the past and the first thing they must do is to rid themselves of the myth that we sold out fishing for farming because we did not. Fishing was stolen from us before we even got there. Dr. Fitzgerald's words to me were that had we wished to negotiate on fishing back in the late 1960s, there would have been no negotiations.

Today, Members are discussing this document and proposal that comes from the Commission. Unfortunately, Irish fishing will be finished if they continue to talk about the Common Fisheries Policy or continue to talk about trying to work within that system. The Irish fishing industry and coastal communities will continue to die because the more we try to work the system, the more we are being screwed by it. We are being screwed by our so-called partners. It is a pity that in the past 35 or 40 years, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party when in government never adopted the attitude suggested by Deputy Ó Cuív. However, I agree with his suggestion that whenever Mr. Sarkozy mentions corporation tax, we should mention cod, haddock, hake, mackerel and everything else back to him. I believe that were we to do a deal with regard to corporation tax on that basis in which we secured a fair deal for our fishing, we would win and derive real benefits therefrom.

I wish the Minister all the best when negotiating on this issue in Europe although if Ireland negotiates on the basis of this document, it is finished before it even begins. However, the Minister still must go and still must fight it. I acknowledge this will not happen within the next six months or the next year or two but unless an Irish Government, with the support of all Members, can propose something different and begin a conversation with our so-called partners and unless Ireland begins to build alliances around Europe on the basis of looking beyond the Common Fisheries Policy and getting rid of it completely, we never will have coastal communities that realise their potential or the benefit they could bring to this country. Unfortunately, the Common Fisheries Policy will be adopted and quotas will be privatised. This will constitute the first step on the road towards privatising them on a European-wide basis, whereby everything can be sold off to the Spaniards and the French and the west coast will be closed down completely. This is what will happen because no matter what anyone involved in fishing in Ireland may think, they will be unable to compete against the might and financial power of the companies in Europe which will be able to buy out our resources.

There are some positive elements in this document in respect of discards, which is an issue that must be sorted out and the proposals contained therein may go some way towards doing this. Moreover, the proposal to create a regional advisory council on aquaculture would be an interesting development and I look forward to this taking place. Perhaps then we could be advised as to the reason a more strict regime is being imposed on Ireland than on the rest of Europe or perhaps it simply is the manner in which small countries are treated within Europe. In his closing remarks, the Minister should outline what resisting and opposing entails in respect of the privatisation of quota, as well as what steps ultimately are open to Ireland. In addition, the Minister and his departmental officials should begin considering something different. It is a road on which to start and to move on and then we might see some real benefits. I wish the Minister well with the negotiations.

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