Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister will not be surprised that I am going to concentrate today on the impact of Brexit on the Irish fishing, seafood and aquaculture industries and indeed the import and export of seafood into and out of Ireland. It was well flagged in advance that the Irish fishing and seafood industry was going to be the big casualty of Great Britain’s decision to leave the EU - the big casualty or as Irish fishermen know all too well, the sacrificial lamb. It involved a 15% quota cut, 39 fishing vessels lost forever to the Irish fleet and a loss of at least €43 million every year. It has been a disaster. The worst part is that it is still rolling and rolling.

The National Inshore Fishermen’s Association appeared before the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine yesterday pleading for support in the face of collapsing markets and no safety net support funding. This inshore industry is also suffering extinction by a thousand cuts. Add into that the news we received just this morning about new animal health certification requirements for live aquaculture animals transiting the British land bridge and we really are in the middle of the perfect storm.

Let us get to the specific topic of today’s statements, namely, import controls on goods and services from Great Britain. I will also speak about export controls. On Monday, 2 October 2023, five fish processors imported fish in one lorry consignment into Belfast via Cairnryan as they had done for 20 years. Clearance was provided in writing for this haulier to exit the port and proceed on his way to deliver the fish. Later that evening, a trade in animals and related products, TARP, notice issued from Belfast City Council to recall the goods. At this stage, some of the goods were already in transit to Europe. The following Friday, 6 October, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland contacted the customers to say that a food recall notice was issued. This was extended to a European-wide recall notice. Despite contacting the Minister's office, the Department, the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland to try and understand what happened, the shutters were pulled down. Authorities were also contacted in the North. To this day, we, the haulage company, the processors, the purchasers and the retailers still do not know what happened that caused this awful scenario and completely avoidable mess. We asked that a report on exactly what happened in this situation be completed and published to prevent this ever happening again. We have also asked that a framework be published and understood by all stakeholders and authorities should such an occurrence happen in the future.

Separately, we were made aware this morning of a potentially seriously damaging change for the aquaculture industry that will come in over a cliff edge on 31 January 2024. Full animal certification will now be required for all live aquatic animals transiting Great Britain. This will have considerable consequences for the aquaculture industry. As the appointed competent body responsible for these inspections, the Marine Institute must be contacted four days in advance and inspections must be carried out on site. The service provided to carry out inspections is Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. There is considerable concern that capacity does not exist within veterinary officials in the Department to be able to manage these additional requirements. This is another example of bad planning or lack of planning and failing to engage with those who know the industry as is the case in so many other fields when we talk about this Government. Yet again, there was no meeting with all the stakeholders at the table. What engagement did the Department have with British and EU officials in advance of these requirements to examine any kind of workaround or perhaps even a derogation for bivalve molluscs transiting through the British land bridge?

Both of the examples that I have set out confirm the difficulties that Brexit has visited upon the Irish seafood industry. I am, therefore, asking for a direct written response from the Minister's office on both matters I raised today. I await those responses with interest.

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