Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I will be very brief. In September, the ban on large trawlers fishing within Ireland's inshore waters was lifted following a Court of Appeal judgment. These trawlers are extremely damaging to our coastal environments and fish habitats. They damage our marine biodiversity. They are also damaging to the interests of small fishers. They do not practise a sustainable form of fishing and they should be banned. These massive trawlers have consistently overfished sprat in particular, killing seven times the level recommended by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea in the year before the ban came into effect. This overfishing of sprat has massive knock-on impacts as they are an essential food source for whales. We need to stop this overfishing before it is too late. The Taoiseach has known for more than a year that this ban faced being overturned. What contingency plans did he put in place to reintroduce it?

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