Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh na daoine uilig ó na hoileáin éagsúla timpeall na tíre atá anseo agus molaim an díospóireacht seo. Gabhaim m'aitheantas chuig Sinn Féin fá choinne na moltaí agus an Bille. Gabhaim m'aitheantas le mo chuid chomhghleacaithe, na Teachtaí Andrew Doyle agus Seán Kyne, a bhí agus atá anseo inniu.

It is important to have this wide-ranging debate on a Thursday evening. It is also important to recognise the island community representatives who are present to outline and highlight the significance of being from an island. I will get into my car following the debate and I will get a late dinner but they do not know whether they will make the last ferry this evening. That is the significance and hard reality of living on an island and that has to be emphasised again and again. The Minister of State, Deputy Andrew Doyle, prepared an excellent cross-party report and his heart is in the right place. He has the backing of the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Kyne and myself, and I have spoken to the Taoiseach at length regarding the issue. We want to do something within the parameters of the law and what is possible.

Unfortunately, we have an issue with process. Sinn Féin will win the vote later because it has the support of the Labour Party and Fianna Fáil but there is a difficulty with process. The Ceann Comhairle and I try to tease this out day in, day out under the new political regime. Upwards of 25 Private Members' Bill have passed Second Stage but they are sitting in a vacuum. We have to consider what will happen after the Bill passes Second Stage. It will go to the joint committee but not to Committee Stage. The committee will have to go through all the issues raised by the Department and the legal concerns raised by the Attorney General. However, that is the forum in which these will be debated and where all parties will tease them out. It will not go to Committee Stage even at that point. Following the joint committee's deliberations, a money message will be needed for the legislation and we are having difficulty with that.

We have the principle of this issue at heart. Representative organisations along the coastline have made submissions but I would like inshore fishermen to get a leg up as well as the islands and nobody opposes that. Singling out the islands is symbolic and we need to go a step further. I want to pursue this issue as best I can. The Minister of State, Deputy Seán Kyne, has the knowledge of the islands in his constituency and we are having a cross-party discussion now. However, this is a process. What we do next will create expectation when the Bill passes Second Stage because Sinn Féin has the numbers.

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