Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming in to take this question. I also welcome the fact that he is going to meet with us on 11 May. That is very welcome. As I understand it, the staff and infrastructure are there. I do not see this as involving any great additional cost. Deputy Shanahan has outlined the additional travel time involved in travelling in from, for example, the Smalls and the increased carbon emissions involved in doing so. It is a matter of cost efficiency. Fishers are already operating on very small margins. We should not make them travel this extra distance and incur those extra fuel costs to land their catch. Even a cursory look at a map of Ireland shows one that there is a massive swathe of our coastline between Castletownbere and Howth, which obviously serves a massive swathe of our offshore. This makes sense. This issue is easily solved without incurring any great cost. I welcome the Minister's commitment to keep this matter under review.

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