Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As the Tánaiste will know, the fishing industry is going through a huge crisis, as quota losses have led to many taking the dreaded decision to decommission, which will have further devastating consequences for west Cork's rural towns and villages. Small inshore fishermen are also in deep trouble as the shrimp and velvet crab market has collapsed, leaving them without an income in recent months. A call for an aid package, similar to the one for the pig industry given last year, for the inshore sector was refused in response to our motion a few weeks ago, leaving inshore fishermen, like our larger fleet fishermen, fending for themselves.

There is one way the Government can help all fishermen, big and small, namely, through the introduction of a fuel subsidy. There is a European fund to which the Spanish and French Governments applied and were granted in 2022 to aid their countries’ fishermen. This fund is so freely available that the French Government, on behalf of the country's fishermen, has gone back for a second round of the fuel subsidy in recent weeks. On behalf of fishermen from Castletownbere, Bantry, Schull and Union Hall to Kinsale, I ask why the Government has chosen to ignore their pleas and not seek this fuel subsidy to help salvage something following a number of disastrous years for fishermen.

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