Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This statutory instrument has been debated in this House many times and we are back here again. The reality is this Government is doing exactly the same as the last Government did. It is ignoring rural and coastal communities and it is destroying them. People often wonder what fishermen stand for and when ordinary workers from all over the country look at fishermen they see people who risk everything to go out and try to survive.

This statutory instrument says that this Government is once again going to back the big shot as opposed to the small coastal communities and fishermen who are struggling to survive. Somewhere in the Department or elsewhere, it has been decided that the small fishermen need to be pushed out and that they are not sustainable. This is another element in making that happen. The Government will not give them quotas, it will not give them a chance and it has pushed them into the ground. This statutory instrument will mean their vessels can be boarded and fishermen can receive penalty points with no recourse whatsoever. The points are there whether the fishermen win or lose the case. It is completely arbitrary and wrong.

When he was here, former Deputy Pat The Cope Gallagher made a strong point of that and in fairness to him he fought that corner. It is deplorable that his colleague from the same constituency is doing the exact opposite. I am incensed at how the Minister has come to this position that he thinks it is OK to do this to fishermen in his constituency and the length and breadth of all the coastal communities around Ireland. It is completely wrong and the Minister knows that.

Somewhere or other, this policy has been put in place by people who are faceless and who do not come into this Chamber and those people need to be stood up to. If the Minister is going to make a mark as a Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, he needs to make that stand. He needs to stand up to those people who stand for something that is not really what we are about but that is about something different, namely looking after vested interests. It is time the vested interests were set aside and the ordinary people were given a chance. The recognition and reference of that will be if the Minister does the right thing by the coastal communities and the small fishermen around the country. The first thing the Minister needs to do is make sure this statutory instrument is set aside because it is wrong and the Minister knows it.

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