Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I ask that the Minister would include in his diary for the upcoming period a meeting with the National Inshore Fishermen’s Association, NIFA. I met them online in recent weeks and they raised a wide range of issues with me. They feel utterly abandoned by the Government with regard to supports during the Covid crisis and the price of produce. I cannot stress enough that they are in crisis. The recent deal between the EU and the US on lobster tariffs is another threat, so there is a range of issues.

There is a sense that they signed up to a partnership in this strategy or plan and we hear, one year on, that there have not been meetings of the implementation group and there is no evidence that this report is being implemented. The sector feels abandoned. I ask the Minister again to meet NIFA as soon as possible to listen to their concerns and then act on them.

See this speech in context