Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's proposal for allocating extra quota over the next six weeks. Fishermen do not want to go cap-in-hand to anybody. It is a proud industry, albeit a difficult one, and they do not want to look for funding. However, most of them are now living on credit and the goodwill of businesses in their areas. We need to have a debate on the fish assist scheme because it is far from perfect with respect to fishing. I am increasingly convinced that issues of social protection, combined with evolving policy on days at sea for the demersal or whitefish fleet, will give rise to some form of family income supplement instead of fish assist. These individuals are self-employed and even though they are not fishing it does not mean they are not working. They may not be earning but they still have to respond to their skippers' requests to keep their vessels and gear maintained. They are working every day of the week they are ashore but they have no prospect of being paid in the next couple of weeks. I look forward to seeing how the extra allocation of quota will be divided. I hope it will take account of when prices are optimal and that the extra quota will not have a depressing effect on prices.

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