Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is a pity the Taoiseach is leaving the Chamber right now. He might take the opportunity to go out and meet the children who have been waiting for him for the past hour and a half. I am disappointed I did not get the chance to make the following statement before the Taoiseach left the Chamber. The Taoiseach alleged that he was not invited to meet protesters. He was sent an email, as were other Ministers. The Taoiseach clearly was invited but he chose not to attend. Hopefully, when he gets a chance, he will correct the record in that regard.

He might even take the chance now as he leaves. The Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, usually takes these statements and in fairness, it is usually him who receives the comments. That is why I was surprised to see the Taoiseach stay so long today rather than go out and meet the children at the front of these buildings, which I would say, according to anybody listening in to these debates across the country, was his top priority and responsibility today.

On the challenges the Government faces, my colleague and party leader, Deputy McDonald, has referenced fisheries. There is a seething anger across fishing and coastal communities at the ongoing failure to ensure there will be burden-sharing of the quota loss that arises from the EU-UK trade and co-operation agreement. As the Minister of State is aware, in some cases, especially with mackerel, there is a huge loss of quota that has a devastating impact. That is why the Government is suggesting 60 more vessels will have to be decommissioned. It is because of the failure of Government after Government to secure a fair share of the fish in our own waters. The Government has not secured burden-sharing despite repeated assurances it would seek it. The EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries was in Ireland recently. When the question was put to him, it was clear we had not put any pressure on him to agree to burden-sharing of the quota loss that would have prevented the need to decommission these 60 vessels.

Right now, Irish fishermen around our coast can only attain 15% of the fish in our waters under the Common Fisheries Policy. If that was not bad enough, we now have an additional hit from that trade agreement. This is ongoing. We are the laughing stock of Europe. When we talk to MEPs and senior politicians in Europe privately, they cannot believe we allow this situation to continue. It is a profound injustice. We talk about all the legislation we are bringing in around the marine at the moment, the immense resource it is and the potential for coastal communities. What has more potential than the fish in our own waters? We have a situation where on the south coast, our boats are tied up while day after day, Spanish, French and Belgian boats land fish at our harbours, with no checks from the Sea-Fisheries Protection Agency, SFPA, to be exported back to their own country. There is no value, no checks and no equality for the fishermen there. I am asking for the Minister of State, along with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, to get some fire in their bellies and stand up and fight for Irish fishermen. That is their challenge.

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