Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague, an Teachta Mac Lochlainn, for bringing forward this motion. I join him in highlighting that it should not be necessary. Putting forward a motion on this issue was the last thing we wanted to have to do. The fishing representative organisations understood that a lot of the heavy lifting had been done in this regard and that the argument was won. However, we have seen a complete about-turn on it from Fianna Fáil in government. Nobody will be surprised by that. Indeed, the fishing communities that I represent are neither surprised nor disappointed by it because they know that Fianna Fáil says one thing but will do another.

This motion is intended to be constructive. It was devised following consultation with the representative bodies - presumably the same representative bodies that Fianna Fail consulted before drafting the recent amendments. As somebody who did not grow up on the coast, I have been struck by the way in which people in the community work. The fishing community is a very solid, close-knit one but the people who are part of it have long come to expect disappointment from successive governments. They expect to be neglected and to be the last to have their concerns addressed. They know they are very low down on the list of priorities. What is happening here this evening is proof of that.

Fishermen in Skerries and Balbriggan do not have the largest fleets and they do not have a massive harbour but they are members of the fishing community and, as such, we have consulted them on this issue. They are not opposed to a penalty points system. They only seek a system that is fair and an appeals process that is fit for purpose. The fact that this is too much to ask of the Government says a lot to people in our fishing communities, their families and the people like me who represent them. I call on the Minister in my constituency, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to do what he said he would do and to be as good as the word he gave as recently as two years ago. I hope he and his colleagues in government will support this motion and stand up for fishing communities.

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