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

I am going to reiterate some of the points I made to the Taoiseach earlier about the reality of what is happening around our coast today. I will put it back on the record. The Irish fishing fleet is allocated 15% of the quota in fish in our own waters under the Common Fisheries Policy. The other 85% is allocated to the fishing fleets of other EU member states. This is under the relative stability principle, a principle that dates back to the 1970s, when Ireland joined the EU as it is today.

What does this mean? It means that we are not getting fair share of the fish in our own waters. We talk about climate change. I am talking about the fish that are closest to our piers and harbours. Because we are not getting that fair share, we are losing thousands of jobs in coastal communities and hundreds of millions of euro each year. That is a conservative estimate. It is having a devastating impact on coastal communities.

Since 2006, the number of boats in the Irish fleet that are over 15 m in length has been reduced by a third. If the Irish Government gets its way, another 60 vessels will be decommissioned, as per the recommendation in the report of the seafood sector task force. It is a fait accomplibecause the outcome of the Brexit trade negotiations and the agreement is that we lose more of our quota, if you would believe that. We get 15% of the fish in our own waters, or 15% of our own pie and immense natural resource. We are the only island state, island nation, in the EU today and that is where we are in terms of an allocation. It is an absolute disaster. The Taoiseach said that I was sloganeering earlier, so I will present some facts that can be put on the record again. In the north-east Atlantic waters, of which 29% belong to Ireland, we get 7.6% of the quota of monkfish, 5.3% of the hake and 5.3% of the haddock. Let us look at France. France owns less of those waters than Ireland, with 23%. It gets 59% of the quota of monkfish, 45% of hake and 67% of haddock. For Christ's sake, we are the laughing stock of Europe. We have the richest fishing grounds in all of Europe. We are an island nation with an immense resource and we have just given it away. Why are we not screaming outside the Berlaymont about this? Why are we not demanding justice for our coastal communities?

I am beyond appealing at this stage. I beg the Government to get a plan together, go to Europe and fight for our fair share. I ask the Government not to make me come here again before and after the next meeting of the EU Council and make the same speech. I ask for some words of reassurance today.

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