Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is over five years now since the Government made a very good decision to ban trawlers over 18 m from fishing within the 6 mile limit. That is over five years ago. It is over ten months since the Court of Appeal held that policy at nought on a very narrow ground. The decision was very good. It was unsustainable. Unfortunately, that unsustainability has continued and the figures for sprat alone over the past 5 years - excuse the bad pun - have gone off the deep end. We have, on average, 12,400 tonnes a year of sprat being caught when the recommended amount is 2,800 tonnes. I do not know how many times I have raised this issue in English and in Irish. It was a wonderful policy and I fully support the Government on it but I refer to the delay in the action. The last reply I got was that we were waiting for more scientific research. In the meantime, this unsustainable situation continues.

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