Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. I am from east Clare. There is a distinct divide when it comes to fishing. Not much sea fishing goes on in east Clare. What little of it is left it is all along west Clare.

There is a great imbalance in the fishing industry and among most of the people the Minister represents, whether farmers or fishermen. It is chiefly about their inability to take on a system. There are big players in the agrifood business. For one reason or another, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine often gives way to them. Then there are numerous small producers, whether fishermen or farmers, who go out and produce an amazing product but they do not get the reward for it. Sometimes they believe that they are being penalised and that the system is against them. The idea of taking a judicial review is not something they can consider. They do not have access to the High Court, although the big players do. The weak suffer what they must and the strong do what they can. I believe that is very much what happens in the Department. I am not saying it is the fault of the Minister, but it is the way it is.

I will wait and listen but I want to know how the penalty points system that the Minister has introduced differs so substantially from the penalty points system that the Fianna Fáil Party had annulled. There may be differences and I am willing to listen to them. I hope the difference is not around an ability to take judicial review proceedings in the same way that it was for small publicans. If they were shut down for a day, they were to take a judicial review. That is simply not realistic. People need fairness. People need to be able to produce a product that they have produced for generations in an ecologically sustainable and environmental way, as inshore fishermen and small farmers do in Ireland. They need to get a fair price. Instead of being put to the pin of their collars by regulations of the Department, they need to be supported and assisted.

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