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

The smaller Donegal person.

Last week, I raised the serious crisis in the fishing industry and its concerns about how negotiations are being handled at European level. Today, some of its leaders are in Brussels speaking for our industry. It is absolutely critical at this stage that the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, who is in the Chamber, appear before the Dáil to make a statement on how this matter is being handled and that we have statements about the overall state of the industry. Inshore fishermen were here last week. Aquaculture, both offshore and inshore, is an industry in serious crisis. We need an urgent statement from the Minister setting out his vision and approach to negotiations in Europe to reassure the industry that it has a future.

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