Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Naval Service should be out there now intercepting these vessels to protect fishermen's livelihoods. The response simply is not good enough and this issue must be addressed urgently.

In addition, the online pressure group, Uplift, has created a petition with more than 30,000 signatories condemning the actions of such supertrawlers off the Irish coast. All along the coast, fishermen are sickened because they must sit at home and watch these vessels continue to fish in front of their homes while the Government is standing idly by and is allowing this to happen. Last summer, a Danish vessel in the Irish Sea had penalty points imposed on it by that highly effective agency, the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority. However, the Danish Government refused to add those penalty points to the vessel's licence.

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