Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputies Danny Healy-Rae and Mattie McGrath.

Last Sunday, 9 May, the member states of the European Union celebrated Europe Day. This year, the day took on a special dimension with the launch of the Conference on the Future of Europe. In the context of the fatigue of the pandemic and the longing for stability and predictability, Europe has entered a crisis stage. Crisis fatigue has now become a widespread sentiment in Europe, especially in Ireland. Evidence in replies to a series of parliamentary questions from my office confirms that the Government blindly supported the EU negotiation mandate in respect of the Brexit negotiations on fishing, giving away 25% of our pelagic fish. Here we are again now, with the so-called weighing debacle leaving every fisher and processor up and down the country shocked. Another European rule was thrown in on top of us and the Government accepted it.

The mismanagement of this entire debacle is adding to the anti-European sentiment in our country. On face value, it is an act of madness to throw the fisheries industry into turmoil in the space of one hour. On 16 April at 4 p.m., the industry was told that everything was normal. At 5 p.m., nothing was normal and a new regime was in place. This is not acceptable behaviour from the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA. Earlier today, representatives of the SFPA told the Joint Committee on Agriculture and the Marine that they are in negotiations with the industry, but representatives of the industry told the committee it knew nothing about this. We are being misled. I asked the Taoiseach to set time aside today to debate the weighing issue but he ignored my call. Ireland has the most regulated fishing industry in the world because of the EU insistence on trying to squeeze Irish fishermen out of the seas. It is astonishing that the Government is assisting it to do so instead of getting Europe to back off Irish fishermen and give them a chance to survive.

Achieving that will not be an easy thing at this stage. We see how the European bureaucrats enjoy the comfort and conformity of weak Governments such as this Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green Party Government. That weakness allows the unelected bureaucrats who roam the corridors in Brussels to dictate issues that impact on Irish people on a daily basis. The world will be different after this pandemic. In that new world, it is crucial that the European Union does not leave ordinary people and rural communities like those in Ireland behind. It is important that our Government stands up for the best interests of citizens when exchanging views on this issue.

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