Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Two years down the road, it is being actively examined. That is what the Department is doing in terms of recreational fisheries, for example. We are changing that structure. We are introducing limits that will be imposed on recreational fishermen so that we can create more space for commercial fishermen. We are also expanding our V-notching programme and we have increased the compensation payments that fishermen get for putting back lobsters to improve breeding performance and so on. The Department has been working on multiple measures in terms of increasing funding and increasing the conversation, including with inshore fishermen, on policy development, budgetary decisions and quota allocation decisions in a way that they have never before been included. There has never been more interaction on a policy or funding level between the inshore sector and the Government than there is now. It would be helpful for the Deputy to recognise that.

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