Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On 28 June, for the second time in a month, the same fishing vessel was arrested and brought in by the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA. As the Minister knows probably better than I, Kilmore Quay is a small fishing village whose entire vibrancy and economy are built around the small fishing sector. Whether it is the number of people employed, both onshore and offshore, or the ancillary services, such as oil deliveries, other service deliveries and food deliveries for the fishermen, all of it is intertwined. The whole community is totally dependent on the success of fishing.

A number of years ago the issue of discards and by-catch came to a head when fishermen from Kilmore Quay landed discards and gave them away. Many people believe that, as a consequence, they have been targeted by the SFPA, which is probably embarrassed. In any case, the perception is there, true or otherwise. I do not know of any fishing vessel that has had any serious charges made against it as a consequence of fishing.

When they landed the discarded fish and gave it away, this generated a wider debate among the public about how so many tonnes of good fish were being dumped overboard on a daily basis. It created that conversation and debate both within the country and further afield, and maybe they can claim some credit in regard to the negotiations around the proposals to try to alleviate the discards problem in the coming years, not to take anything away from the Minister, Deputy Coveney.

My point is that this is a community totally dependent on the fishing sector for survival. It is a very vibrant community and the fishing sector provides a lot of employment, onshore in particular. However, people who are trying their best to make a living are being handicapped by the lack of proper quota. All of this is contributing to the frustration and anger that is felt by the people involved in the sector, who are finding it hard to make a living. They have had a terrible time, with the whole fishing sector closed down from mid-December through to well into March, when nothing could happen because of the weather. As is well documented, there were the consequences of the storms, including their effect on the pier structures in the area. These people are just trying to make a living, not just for themselves but for the community.

The big problem is lack of quota. While it has been an ongoing problem for decades, something has to be done in order to ensure these people will have adequate quota to make a proper living and to survive in the industry. If they do not survive, that is another generation gone. It is this sector, not the big herring and mackerel sectors, that is suffering the consequences of very bad negotiations going back over the decades.

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