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

We are marking Europe Day. Europe has been generally successful for so many countries. Certainly, Ireland has seen a lot of benefits down through the years by being involved in the European Union. Yet, we have also seen situations, like Deputy McGrath has just mentioned, such as with the fishing industry, where we have been decimated by our involvement in Europe. That should never have been the case. Sadly, successive Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil governments have not been able to fight at the table in Europe for proper fishing quotas for our Irish fishermen. That is the sad situation we find ourselves in. I say to the Minister of State that, even in these dark times in fishing, the best deal that has come for the fishing industry is the decommissioning deal. That is a sad situation. The Government is praising that deal and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, is praising that deal and saying it is the best deal he can get. It is a shocking situation where we get rid of Irish fishermen from Irish waters and we fill Irish waters with their European counterparts. The Government has failed the Irish fishermen miserably in any negotiations that go on. Our European counterparts, whether they are Spanish or otherwise, have cleaned Irish waters continually and the Government has aided and abetted that by not standing up for the Irish fisherman.

We cannot even get a quota for the bluefin tuna. All the European countries get their fair share of a quota from Europe and we cannot. We are finding it difficult and now it looks as though the Government has decided to use the powers that be to try to attack farming at this present time, with nitrates being cut from 250 kg to 220 kg. This is going to decimate agriculture. So many Members in this House voted in favour of that type of deal and are working towards that type of a deal. It is an absolute disaster.

I have heard a lot about achieving a united Ireland through Europe and, obviously, we should all head towards that goal. However, so many times people in this House have been looking for a citizens' assembly. What in the name of God were we elected for? Why do we want a citizens' assembly to tell us how to run our country? Each and every one of us in this House has been democratically elected by the people. If we in this House cannot make the decisions that need to be rolled out, we certainly should not be looking at a citizens' assembly to do so. I certainly do not agree with that. We should make the decisions in here and not anybody else.

As I said, there is no point in my saying we have not benefited from Europe. We have certainly benefited from Europe. Europe has benefited from Ireland's inclusion in Europe also. We have sometimes been fighting above the measure, as such. I will keep going back to one issue I have spoken about so often in this House, which very few Members speak about, which is the fishing industry in this country. If we are to turn things around and if we want to get all of Ireland to respect the benefit of Ireland being in Europe, we have to get a proper quota similar to what others have negotiated. The sad thing is there is so much decommissioning going on that we could end up with less quota than those in the disastrous deals we have been patted on the back with. Whether it was Brexit, etc., and I could back through the 1970s, the 1980s and the 1990s, every deal that was done on fishing was a raw deal. It delivered a raw deal for the Irish fisherman and fisherwomen. I ask the Minister of State not to turn it on the farmers now and wipe them out with nitrates directives that the Government cannot resolve because the Green Party has so much influence in this Irish Government. I sincerely hope the Minister of State will take on board the points I have made.

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