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

I note that the Government had provided 15 minutes for its own Members to participate in this and nobody has taken up one single minute of those 15. That speaks volumes about the priority the Government is giving to the profound crisis in our fishing and seafood industry. Looking across our coast, I do not know to whom the Government is talking because I speak to inshore fishermen, islands fishermen, offshore fishermen, the seafood industry and the aquaculture industry and there is profound concern across the industry. A fisherman in recent days said to me that if the decommissioning scheme were made available again, he believes that even more would avail of it because they just cannot see light at the end of the tunnel and they do not see a sense of urgency in our Government at all.

The Minister will know that there is serious and profound concern about the negotiations that are happening as we speak between the European Commission and Iceland. Iceland is a country with a population of 380,000 people. I think that is around the same population as that of the city of Cork. If what has been suggested goes ahead, Iceland would have almost equal access to blue whiting as our entire industry and, of course, our population is 5.2 million in this State, 7 million on the island. These are our waters. This is our exclusive economic zone. Iceland is not a member of the European Union.

I do not have much time and I ask that the Minister respond as quickly as he can. When did he become aware of the discussions between the European Commission and Iceland? What was the exact date?

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