Dáil debates

Wednesday, 22 September 2021

Sea-Fisheries (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed)

 

1:20 pm

Photo of Christopher O'SullivanChristopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I sometimes question our priorities when it comes to the fishing sector, the fishing industry and our fishers. This has been probably the toughest 12 months to face the sector. We had the introduction of a controversial penalty points system at this time last year. It would be an understatement to say it did not go down well with the fishing sector. We had Brexit, as a result of which the sector and the Irish fleet lost 15% of its quota share. That was a great financial blow to the sector, to the fishers themselves and to coastal communities. That impact will be felt into the future. Then, earlier this year, we had the removal of the control plan. This has led to a ludicrous situation in which boats are having to weigh their fish on the pier. This has had a very significant detrimental impact on the industry. Boats are coming in and the catch, which is frozen in boxes, is having to be de-iced, taken out of the boxes, weighed on the pier, put back in the boxes and re-iced. This process sometimes takes hours, which also has an impact on quality. These are all things that have happened over the last 12 months that have led to fishers in their hundreds, if not thousands, sailing their boats into Cork Harbour and into Dublin to show their disappointment with the fishing sector's situation.

The first thing we do when we come back to the Dáil is introduce legislation to provide for further penalty points when we should be prioritising the key issues. Where is the submission to reintroduce a control plan that would allow the fishing sector to do what it has been doing and weigh fish in factories in a transparent, traceable and visible way? That should be our priority. Our other priority should be to address the massive inequality in quota share. International boats have 85% of the quota share in Irish waters. That is where our priorities should be when we are talking about fishing and sea fisheries. Our priority should not be further penalty points. Another priority should be the fair distribution of the Brexit adjustment reserve, BAR, fund to minimise the impact of this 15% quota loss and the impact the Brexit trade agreement is having on the fishing sector. That is where our priorities should be.

We should be ensuring a fair distribution right across the board. There has been a lot of recommendations coming from talks the task force is having. There is a suggestion that the lion's share of the portion of the BAR fund allocated to fishing will go to the big refrigerated seawater, RSW, fleets in Donegal. If that is what emerges, that is completely unacceptable. Far more than those RSW fleets have been impacted by Brexit. There are boats right throughout west Cork in the whitefish sector and the demersal sector. Fishers who have mackerel quota have been also greatly impacted by the loss of that quota. The inshore sector has been also particularly impacted. All these sectors have been impacted not only by Brexit, but by an incredibly tough two years in respect of Covid and drops in the market. That is where our priorities should be. Our priorities should be the control plan, fairly sharing fish not just in Irish waters, but in European waters, and ensuring the BAR fund is distributed in a fair way that reaches the fishing sector, the crews on boats and coastal communities. We should not be introducing more penalty points.

On the inshore sector, I understand the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, met with members of the National Inshore Fishermen's Association, NIFA, in Tralee recently. The sector has been ignored and overlooked for years. It has some very simple requests. It wants its fair share of the Brexit adjustment reserve because it has been impacted. It also wants a de minimisonce-off payment from the Exchequer to help its fishers through the incredibly difficult period they are having to negotiate. That is vitally important.

I will also bring up a scheme for which we are told funding has been stopped. I refer to the very innovative and very helpful scheme whereby children in communities, schools and service providers such as CoAction are introduced to fishing through Inland Fisheries Ireland, whether on the shore or in lakes and rivers. It has been an incredibly successful project but I understand its funding has been pulled. I urge the Department to reinstate that funding as soon as possible.

I have no doubt this legislation will pass. I will be voting with the Government, as I always do, but I ask the Minister, having seen how controversial the statutory instrument was, to consider those two items: the balance of probability issue and the issue of points staying with skippers or masters who are convicted and given penalty points even when these are overturned in a court of law. It is not right and it needs to be looked at. The Bill needs to be amended in this respect and I urge the Minister to look at that.

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