Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all who have contributed to the debate. As a Donegal Deputy, I am extremely pleased and proud that four of the five Donegal Deputies have come in here and contributed to the debate, namely, myself and my colleagues, Deputies McConalogue, Pearse Doherty and Pringle. I thank them for their support.

We would get the impression from listening to the Minister that this is all about money and that it is money that is so important. Let me remind the House of something. I have said it in the European Parliament, where I was a member of the fisheries committee for 14 years, working very well with various Ministers while I was there. I have worked there, I have said it there and I will repeat it here: the sector that has paid too great a price for membership of the European Union is the fishing sector, sharing our prolific grounds with all the European countries.

That cake was divided. The key issue now remains as it was then. The only increase we ever had was in boarfish. I single handedly ensured that. There might not be an abundance of boarfish now but when they do return, we have the highest percentage, at almost 80%. I did that on my own and did not have the support of the Government of the time.

I refer to a point made by Deputy Eamon Ryan. Whoever was briefing the Deputy in the early noughties is still doing so today. He is making allegations that the industry does not respect the rules and regulations. I have never seen the industry more regulated and more compliant than it is now and I am sure the Minster would be the first to acknowledge that.

The Minister asked "What about the points?" He is correct. They are not with the boat, but they are with the capacity and the Minister has acknowledged that in correspondence with me. It is all right to say that it is there when it suits and it is not there, but it is there. I do not have the time to go through the Supreme Court decision but in the coming days I will circulate to the Minister the amendments which I believe can be accepted by the Government and this House. We will not procrastinate.

The Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, said that the reason for supporting this statutory instrument is because we are jeopardising €40 million in European funding. Is that a good enough reason? Are we prepared to sell the industry out once again, as it was sold out in the past? It is a pact. The Minister has said himself that it is not a good enough reason. It is ironic that last Thursday or Friday the Government decided it would ask for extra time. This is nothing short of blackmail. Whatever number of millions is in question, it pales into insignificance with the amount of millions of euro that have been lost by the sector.

I have always said that the engine of economic growth in the country is the private sector. It provides jobs in the most rural, peripheral regions where there is no alternative source of development. It is not the Government that provides jobs in those areas, but the fishing sector. The Government does not rural-proof its policies, as those of us who come from the peripheral areas of Europe know.

I am sorry that Deputy Eamon Ryan, who has returned, was not here earlier when I observed that the fishermen are the most compliant fishermen in Europe. Whoever is briefing him about letters to the Commission in 2004 should know that things have changed since then. We do not have time to discuss this today, but he is a good friend and I can explain it to him one-to-one another time.

The Minister made comparisons with the gardaí which I think was wrong. The proposed structure would be similar to the gardaí in detecting an infringement, later selecting the judges to adjudicate in the case, and that does not make sense.

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