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

Usually the Taoiseach or the Minister of State with responsibility for Europe would be present for these debates. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy O' Donovan, to kindly ensure that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue and, more importantly, his departmental officials are provided with a transcript of what I am about to say because it has major implications for our fishing industry.

The Minister of State knows that our industry is in the worst state that it has ever been in, following a number of blows, the first of which was Brexit and the EU, UK trade agreement. This resulted in another huge reduction in quota for Irish fishermen. It is a mortal sin that we have 12% of the waters of all of the European Union but only around 4% of the fish. We actually get about 15% of the fish in our own waters. That is why we are now in a situation where the Government is asking the industry to decommission another 60 vessels. If we compare the situation 15 years ago to today, we will have only one third of the fleet that was over 18 m. This is coupled with the pandemic, the impact on the markets for our industry and the latest disastrous blow which is the huge increase in fuel costs. Incredibly, there has been no real substantive intervention by the Minister to deal with this.

Why do I raise all of this now? I raise it because many of the problems we have are due to the fact that access to our fisheries is governed by the Common Fisheries Policy, CFP and Europe is the place to make that fight and get our fair share. What we are doing in this country is punishing fishermen more and more. As we speak, a Norwegian vessel has been forced to land in Derry rather than Killybegs because of a decision of the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA regarding the blue whiting on that vessel and on another vessel from Denmark. The whiting is for human consumption and is destined for places like west Africa. It is a really important and affordable source of protein for communities in West Africa. It was supposed to go through a fish producer and processor in Killybegs but the SFPA said that the water had to be separated from the fish. That essentially turns the blue whiting into fish meal so rather than turn food into fish meal, the Danish vessel turned away and today, the Norwegian vessel has had to go to Derry. The processor in Derry operates under the same European Union rules but commonsense is in play. This means that approximately 40 lorry loads of fish will be coming from Derry to Killybegs while we get lectured about climate change and our responsibilities. This is the madness and insanity of the way we interpret EU rules. An episode of "Father Ted" would not compare to what we are seeing right now in Killybegs.

It is madness to ask fishermen to turn food for human consumption, destined for places like West Africa, into fish meal. This matter was raised earlier by Deputy Doherty. I appeal to the Minister of State to ensure that the transcript of my contribution is urgently given to his colleague in Cabinet, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue in order that he can he intervene as a matter of urgency. We are making a laughing stock of ourselves here in terms of our fishing industry. After everything it has been through, this is the last thing it needs.

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