Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is not very long since the House dealt with farming. The byword when it comes to farming is "sustainable". I would say that is the same way we need to look at the entirety of the fishing industry. It is all about ensuring that we have a viable, sustainable fishing industry that can deliver a plentiful supply of fish but also protection for those families engaged in fishing, many of whom have done it for many generations, and the Minister would know this better in light of the part of the world from which he comes.

It is fair to say that, across Europe, we gained greatly from solidarity in regard to the Brexit issue and we hope that Europe would maintain that level of solidarity in the near future. We obviously have difficulties in the context of the threats from Boris Johnson on the Irish protocol, but these are all problems that can be dealt with, in my view and in the view of many who would know a lot more than I. However, we have continually seen fishers and the fishing industry taking the slack or being the fall guy. Many in this House have referred to the Common Fisheries Policy and the fact that at the time we entered the EEC, to a degree, we got a very bad deal as regards the fishing industry. That has not improved. The Minister will have dealt with numerous fishers in the last while. We now have a situation where this State has 12% of the waters in the EU but only has access to 4% of the catch. There is a definite unfairness in this regard. I know that when Britain left, there was going to be an element of pain, but it looks like the fishing industry in this State is going to take a huge whack, which is unfair.

Anything that can be done from the point of view of a fairer renegotiation of the Common Fisheries Policy needs to be done. We need to engage in this process as soon as possible. Brexit funding is to be welcomed and this needs to be used from the point of view of doing whatever we need to do, whether it is capital infrastructure or whatever is necessary to lessen the blow and, beyond that, to ensure we have a viable, sustainable fishing industry. What cannot happen is that a huge amount of this would go into a decommissioning process. There may be fishermen who, for various reasons, that might suit but it cannot be the main focus and we cannot allow that to happen. We need to revisit the entire process.

I would also raise some of the worries the Minister will be aware of regarding inshore fishermen in particular the worries around the marine planning framework and all the legislation that is required to produce a complete framework in respect of how we deliver wind energy, including offshore wind energy. We all get that this is a requirement but we need to ensure that, in dealing with this legislation, we put the correct framework in place and that we ensure all stakeholders are dealt with, particularly those inshore fishermen who are afraid of being impacted upon. We know there are certain operations with plans for offshore wind that have engaged in consultative processes with fishers, and some of them have been quite successful, although others have not been. We need to ensure we put best practice in place.

We also have the territorial issues relating to Rockall, Lough Foyle and Carlingford Lough, which is in my neck of the woods. Obviously, deals were done with Britain in the pre-Brexit context but we have to take a look at all of these situations again. The Minister has engaged to a degree with fishermen but we need to look at all fora into the future from the point of view of ensuring we have the best consultative processes in regard to Government and European decisions and the fishermen who are affected by this.

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