Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. When the scheme was being set up, there was an interaction with the task force and discussions on this issue. My understanding is that the recommendations of the seafood task force were to support all sectors of the industry equally because no sector of the Irish fishing industry escaped the negative impacts of the Brexit deal. Enterprise Ireland intervened at the task force to outline where flexibility existed and how state aid would permit supports to the non-SME sector, similar to what occurred during Covid. It was self evident at the task force meetings that some people within the Department had an ideological difficulty with the State supporting certain sectors of the fishing industry even though the European Commission clearly permitted it and actively encouraged it. The evidence of that is the statement of the fisheries Commissioner to which I referred. In addition, we have the remarks of Elisa Ferreira, the Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, who stated:

In moving forward, we do not want to leave anyone behind.The funding that Ireland will receive will contribute to improve living standards, support economic growth in the country and mitigate the negative impacts in local communities. Those are fishing and coastal communities.

At the end of the day, we want to see the money flowing. Money needs to start flowing into those communities and into processing, along with providing real-time supports for a sector that all present will agree has taken a hammering as a result of Brexit. We do not want to be creating bureaucratic entanglements that prevent money from flowing into the communities that so badly need it.

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