Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Rural Independent Group for tabling this important motion, which we are happy to support. Many of those who are speaking are from the west and the south, where coastal communities and people working in fishing are being severely impacted by rising energy costs, the cost-of-living crisis, the impact of Brexit and so on. However, it may surprise people to know, because it is not talked about as much, that on the east coast there are also many people whose livelihoods depend directly or indirectly on inshore fishing.

I was talking this morning to the fishermen who work out of Dún Laoghaire. They have done a survey recently and are estimating that, between the border on the east coast and Kilmore Quay, approximately 800 people are employed directly or indirectly in the fishing industry. Not to put too fine a point on it, they see themselves as fighting for their survival. They believe on a number of fronts that, because of the failure of the Government to support them, their future is very much in jeopardy and indeed that they might be completely wiped out as an industry. That is their view for a number of reasons.

The motion, and the appeal of inshore fishermen, relate to the immediate issues of the cost-of-living crisis, the hike in energy prices and the collapse of the shrimp market. On those fronts, the fishermen I talked to detailed how severe the various impacts are. Marine diesel, which used to cost about 30 cent a litre, increased in price to about 65 cent per litre and now costs about 110 cent per litre. The cost of a lobster pot, which was about €45, has increased to about €70, while the cost of shrimp pots has risen by about 50%. In overall costs, they say the cost just of going out to fish for the day has increased by between 75% and 100%. They say it used to cost them about €100 per day just to go out to work, but that that cost has now increased to between €150 and €200. They are being hammered. They need the aid package they are requesting and there should be no procrastination by the Government. They also say they are not interested in this tie-up scheme and, in fact, they think it is part of an agenda to wipe them out. They do not want to be tied up or to be paid to do so. They want to fish and they want assistance to sustain their livelihoods.

The other pressure these fishermen are under, which is a little bit off the topic of the motion but which they asked me to raise, relates to the impact of the so-called relevant projects or industrial wind schemes for the Kish and Codling banks, their key fishing grounds. They are very much in favour of developing offshore wind and renewable energy and they understand their importance, but they say the developer-led model, which is leading to these so-called legacy projects being dictated by the developers to put on the Kish and Codling banks, will wipe them out. They say it will destroy them completely. They tell me these companies are riding roughshod over them and that it is severely impacting on them. If these industrial wind farms are built on those locations, which should have been marine protected areas and which contain very sensitive sandbanks that are key to their livelihoods, their industry, jobs and livelihoods will be wiped out. That is contrary to all sorts of EU directives that prohibit displacement as a result of the development of these much-needed wind farms for the renewable energy we need. I emphasise they are severely needed, but they are not supposed to displace existing livelihoods, which is exactly what is happening because developers are dictating.

What is going on is absolutely outrageous. The Government is facilitating the sort of developer-led madness that led to the Celtic tiger crash, and now we are seeing the same model of development being repeated in our marine area, with the fishermen paying the price. Moreover, they say the consequence of that will be disastrous for biodiversity and point out that those banks protect the east coast. The damage to our coastal environment will be devastating if hundreds of wind turbines are put on these sensitive banks, which protect the east coast and provide a livelihood for our fishermen. They say we do need offshore wind but not on areas that should be protected from the points of view of biodiversity, marine biology and the protection of the livelihoods of fishers and those who work downstream in the industry and depend on those fishers.

I will support the motion. I ask the Minister to respond positively to the request of inshore fishermen and to listen to what they are saying about the potential devastation that will be inflicted on fishers on the east coast and in all the other areas throughout the country that have been spoken about.

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