Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to start by congratulating the island fishermen for sticking with the fight they started, and to be parochial I will mention in particular the fishermen from Donegal. We started this struggle through the committee in the last Dáil. It was thanks to the work of then committee Chairman, now Minister of State, Deputy Andrew Doyle, that we managed to publish a report. I know he would like to support the Bill but he had to speak against it today. That is an anomaly of being in government at this stage, although he was in favour of the report published by the committee under his stewardship. It is a sad indictment that after all the work carried out by Dáil committees that reports fall on deaf ears within Departments. I am not just singling out the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine as the same is true across all Departments in that many committee reports end up lying idle. For that reason we have introduced the Bill before the House to try to achieve what should have been achieved when the report was first published.

What is left out of this process is the island fishermen themselves who vested their trust in the Oireachtas to deliver on what is a reasonable demand. How many fishermen have been pushed further into debt by our inaction? How many have left fishing entirely and how many have left the islands because we have been unable to carry this process through for them? I believe that we all lose when someone has to leave an island or give up traditional fishing, in particular when it is due to the inaction of the Government.

The Island Fisheries (Heritage Licence) Bill 2017 would go some way to showing that the Oireachtas is going to stand up for fishermen and their rights. This Bill on its own will not reverse the downward trend in the island fishing populations but it would help empower communities further to fight for their own survival and that is the least we should aim to achieve in this House today. The Joint Sub-Committee on Fisheries in its report, Promoting Sustainable Rural Coastal and Island Communities, and in its final recommendations stated that greater support for communities be provided. In recommendation 10 the report recommends that the Government examine the feasibility of the issuance of heritage licences to rural coastal and island communities. Such licences would, optimally, facilitate traditional fishing practices. The following quote from the report sums up the position when it states.

[In] regard to inshore fisheries, the sub-committee has some concerns. It would appear that plans advanced to develop the management of inshore fisheries now appear to be in abeyance. It would also appear that there is a paucity of data, in particular to inshore fisheries in the context of fishing and circumstances of the under 10 metre LOA category of vessel, the bulk of the fleet. It is clear that it is upon this category that many of the communities, which are the focus of this report, depend to a significant degree economically, socially, demographically and even culturally on inshore fisheries. In this context, the sub-committee asks the question as to what degree the Government is in a position to plan for the future of this industry and, by extension, these communities. It appears that there is a very fragmented governance of the maritime sector so the sub-committee also queries whether other, simpler models should not be examined by the Government.

That says it all. We need to take a long look at how the Department governs fisheries and find ways to reform that. It seems to me that the system is definitely broken. The Bill itself is in line with the Common Fisheries Policy, CFP. Article 20 states: "small offshore islands which are dependent on fishing should, where appropriate, be especially recognised and supported in order to enable them to survive and prosper". If it was ever appropriate, now is the time. Section 19 of the CFP states: "Member states should endeavour to give preferential access for small scale, artisanal or coastal fishermen" which further strengthens the support for island fishermen. I am no friend of the EU but at least in this case the EU is standing up for island fishermen, which we are not doing. The island communities have looked around Europe to see if such a model exists anywhere else and have found similar models already working. One example is in Galicia in Spain and this model is based substantially on it. The Government cannot say that no such approach exists and that it is too difficult, which it probably will try to say here today.

The island communities have done great work in getting the issue this far, and hopefully we can get them the rest of the way. However, it would be remiss of me not to mention wider coastal communities and fishermen who are also suffering who could be helped by a similar approach for the very same reasons. The one drawback that they have is that they do not have the distinct area that an island has and in a lot of cases are working almost alone. I believe that they should be included in this arrangement and that was the view of the Oireachtas committee as well. Island communities are not properly represented but that should not make their issue any less important, it just makes it harder for them to get a hearing.

In conclusion, I wish to say well done to the Irish Islands Marine Resource Organisation, IMRO, in getting this far. I hope this Oireachtas does not let its members down and, by extension, that the Department will honour the recommendations of the committee report and respond to the express wishes of the Oireachtas.

Níl drogall ar bith agam mo bhuíochas a thabhairt don Bhille seo. Gabhaim buíochas le Sinn Féin as ucht é a thabhairt os comhair na Dála. Níl sé foirfe, gan dabht, ach is féidir na fadhbanna, na lochtanna agus na laigeachtaí a oibriú amach ar Chéim an Choiste. Ar ndóigh, tá an Bille bunaithe ar an tuarascáil ón gcomhchoiste. Tháinig an tuarascáil sin amach i mí Eanáir 2014. Sin ceithre bliana ó shin agus, má tá an t-am agam, tiocfaidh mé ar ais go dtí an tuarascáil sin. Tá na moltaí ann iontach ar fad. Faraor géar ní cuireadh i bhfeidhm iad ach tá 29 moladh i gceist. Tá an Bille seo bunaithe go príomhá ar moladh 10. Ar ndóigh, tá an Bille i bhfad níos srianta ná an moladh mar luaitear sa Bhille na hiascairí atá ina gcónaí ar oileáin agus ní luaitear ar chor ar bith na daoine atá ina gcónaí ar an mórthír in aice na farraige. Tá sé thar a bheith srianta agus ní thuigim cén fáth nach bhfuil an Rialtas 100% taobh thiar den Bhille seo.

I am fully behind the Bill. It is certainly not perfect and it has problems but they can be worked out on Committee Stage. Indeed, the Bill is based on the report produced at an earlier stage by the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Doyle. The Minister of State has been praised, and rightly so. I have taken the trouble of downloading the report and reading it.

Four years ago, the now Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, stood over what I would term as a radical document. Unfortunately, from what I can see, none of the 29 recommendations has been implemented. Today, in particular, we are considering recommendation 10. The Sub-committee on Fisheries chaired by the now Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, recommended that the Government examine the feasibility of the issuance of heritage licences to rural coastal and island communities. Such licences would, the recommendation suggested, optimally facilitate traditional fishing practices and so on. This Bill is far more restrictive than the recommendation. It simply refers to fishermen habitually living on islands. It is also limited by the nature of the licence, which is a non-transferable heritage licence, and the boat size referenced is particularly small.

I have before me the response of the Minister of State. Tá trua agam don Aire Stáit mar bhí sé 100% taobh thiar den tuarascáil seo agus anois tá sé ina shuí agus níl sé in ann tacaíocht a thabhairt don Bhille srianta seo. Bheadh mise ag súil le Bille i bhfad níos leithne ón Rialtas agus go háirithe ón Aire Stáit de bharr an méid oibre a rinne sé sa tuarascáil. I feel sorry for the Minister of State in a sense. He has done tremendous work and has come up with good recommendations. One in particular was altogether radical and lifted my heart: recommendation 6. Reference is made to a clear need for a statutory financial community gain in respect of agriculture and marine energy projects. Of course that recommendation was never realised. I do not think any of the recommendations has ever been implemented.

The Minister of State has stood behind recommendation 10. The Bill is far more restrictive than that recommendation. He cannot even agree to change the Bill in that regard on Committee Stage.

An adage comes to mind - the devil will quote scripture to suit his purpose. Certainly, I do not attribute any satanic characteristics to the Minister of State. However, he quotes from the Common Fisheries Policy to suit himself. Yet, he has ignored the preamble, which has already been referenced by my colleagues, paragraph 20 of which states: "Small offshore islands which are dependent on fishing should, where appropriate, be especially recognised and supported in order to enable them to survive and prosper."

There are other references to helping islands enjoy sustainable life. The Minister of State referred to the difficulties of the reference to "habitually resident". Family law legislation has many uses of the term "habitually resident" without a problem for the purposes of judicial separation, divorce and other issues in family law.

I recognise that the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, is in a difficult position, but that is the time to show leadership.

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