Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I am not sure why he questions my interest in this subject. It may be because there are not too many women who are out fishing alongside fishermen or it could be because I represent a Dublin constituency. However, it is a Dublin constituency which has important harbours such as Balbriggan, Skerries, Loughshinny and Rush. Thankfully, I am blessed in that there are a number of people in the constituency who have taken a great interest in our ocean wealth precisely because existing fisheries policy has devastated small coastal communities and the potential of our fisheries industry needs to be developed. It has been alleged by some of those people that much of the information in the report is not well researched and some of the information about eco-tourism is not based on any substantial research and not properly grounded. The issue of regulation and the need for independent observation and collection of data is crucial, but this is not happening. A total of 250 big trawlers are run by syndicates and, to a great extent, there is not adequate and proper information on what fish they are catching and discarding. Where are the Minister's proposals to fund a direct monitoring team? That could be done relatively cheaply; approximately €7.5 million would provide an independent observer regime to gather the data which could be used to develop a fisheries policy. I know the Minister is interested in fish farming, which is an important but small part of an overall policy for sustainable fishing.

See this speech in context