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

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on this important topic. The north County Dublin coastline is one of the most beautiful and, indeed, productive parts of our island. Its coastal towns and villages are home to great scenery and a vibrant fishing industry, particularly inshore fishing. There are, however, many threats to north County Dublin, its communities and these industries. Those threats include the cost of housing and rents, the failure to extend transport links, a lack of funding and supports for communities, improper planning for and consultation in respect of offshore wind energy and an undermining of our fishing industry.

My first point to the Minister relates to the mackerel quota. The mackerel quota is distributed nationally by ministerial policy. This is Government, not EU, policy. Approximately 98% of the quota is allocated to 49 larger boats. A tiny amount of the remaining percentage is set aside for boats that are less than 18 m in length, fishing with nets that get mackerel as a by-catch. A fixed amount of 400 tonnes is set aside for boats less than 15 m in length that fish mackerel with hooks and lines.

The National Fisheries Inshore Forum made suggestions to the quota management advisory committee regarding this line-caught mackerel. These suggestions were given little or no consideration by the committee, however. Inshore fishers moved to line-caught mackerel as a way to diversify in response to the cessation of salmon drift net fishing. From speaking to those in the industry, I am aware, however, that the catch allocations are too small, with quotas being reached in the early months of the year. The industry sought an increase in the line-caught allocation to 3,000 tonnes annually and an increase in the landing limit from 750 kg to 1500 kg, but, as already stated, these requests ignored. There was not even discussion regarding what was achievable, just radio silence.

As opportunities for inshore vessels are limited, many turn to mackerel if and when they show up locally. Unfortunately, as I have said, the 400 tonnes did not last long this year and the hook and line fishery is now closed. For the life of me, I cannot understand why inshore fishermen are given no more help to diversify into this sustainable fishery. Furthermore, the EU Common Fisheries Policy has done a profound injustice to some of Ireland’s fishers. A terrible decision was made by the Government of the day to base fish quota allocation on relative stability and established fishing practices. This was left unchanged in the decades that followed and has allowed a situation whereby Ireland has 12% of EU waters but our fishers are only allowed to catch 4% of the fish. This costs the State thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of euro worth of seafood every year.

Furthermore, fishers were locked out of nearly all the Covid-19 supports. Grants, wage supports and the Covid restrictions support scheme locked out fishers because they did not have rateable premises, were self-employed sole traders or self-employed share fishers and the public health restrictions did not restrict footfall to their businesses. I know the National Inshore Fishermen’s Association and the National Inshore Fishermen’s Organisation sent correspondence to the Minister on this, but it does not seem anything was done to support them in a meaningful way. These are just more examples of another indigenous industry that has been failed and let down. Maybe if our fishers painted Apple, Google or Facebook logos on the sides of their boats, they might get a little attention from this Government.

There are other issues around planning which need to be addressed. For instance, on maritime planning, the decision taken by the Dáil will have major repercussions for the future, particularly the future of my constituency of Dublin Fingal and the seashore along the north County Dublin coast. The marine planning Bill, which will establish a marine planning system for our maritime areas similar to that in place for land planning, is coming down the track. What is in that legislation has to be an agreed vision constructed through engagement and conversation with planning experts, marine biologists, the fishing community and coastal communities. To date, this has been lacking.

As I stated last week, the marine planning framework was recently passed by this House with hardly any debate on it. I said it then and will say it now, engagement, communication and conversation with planning experts, marine biologists, the fishing community and coastal communities is necessary because if we do not get an agreement on a broad range of fronts, mistakes in maritime and marine planning similar to those in north County Dublin, which is still dealing with the legacy of planning failures, will be made.

There is no excuse for Deputies not to do right by our fishers and coastal communities. The majority of counties in this State have some coastal communities and their viability, prosperity and success should be paramount to the Dáil and Government. If we fail to do our jobs properly at this stage, these communities will suffer either through intended or unintended consequences.

I urge the Minister to anchor the issue of workers' rights within the fishing sector because it falls between several Departments and needs attention. There are really awful work practices at play around undocumented workers and because these workers fall between Departments they can sometimes be overlooked. I urge the Minister to engage with the International Transport Workers Federation, look at his diary, check the last time he met with its members and ensure he will meet them again soon.

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