Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for sitting through this debate. It is one of the most important debates and it should take place at a regular interval. I also welcome the good news that the Minister has stood his ground in respect of negotiations with Iceland but if anything brings home how the fisheries policy from Europe is not sustainable, and the Minister has talked about sustainability, it is the Common Fisheries Policy, which is anything but sustainable.

This debate is taking place in the context that the inshore fishermen were recently before the committee. Their conditions have been described as harrowing.

We have heard the figures on the mackerel quota. One percent is going to the inshore fishermen, with its 2,000 vessels, whereas 99% is going to a small number of boats. To me, the Common Fisheries Policy was never sustainable but the Minister is trying to stand his ground. It is like trying to hold back the tide. At the moment, he is standing his ground and I understand that qualified majority voting will ultimately come into play.

I have a few questions. I do not have time for a questions-and-answers session but I would like the Minister to answer my questions. I welcome the new consultation process that was announced on trawling within the six miles. It was announced in 2018 that the Government would go ahead with this policy. That was wonderful and I praised the Government many times for it. It was the first light or the first beacon of hope. Here we are in 2024 with no policy and we are starting from scratch. When the matter went to the Court of Appeal, that court held on very narrow grounds that the Government, the Department, had failed to notify the EU and England. That is all. Has the Government rectified this? When does the Minister believe the policy will be in place?

The removal of sprat from our waters is truly frightening. I do not have enough time to read out the details but the amount being taken out is way more than is sustainable. When will the policy be in place? The Irish inshore fisheries sector strategy, for which I acknowledge the Minister is not directly responsible, is now out of date. Where is it? Bord Iascaigh Mhara, BIM, has not been mentioned. When will it happen? What is the position on the heritage Bill for the island and inshore fishermen?

I read out information yesterday on small businesses. They are the backbone of our community, as are the small fishermen. Bialann amháin i gcroílár na Gaeltachta, taobh le TG4, atá i gceist. Faigheann siad na hamhábhair go léir ó na daoine áitiúla, ó Mhaigh Eo agus oirthear agus iarthar na Gaillimhe. Cuireann sé spotsolas ar chomh tábhachtach is atá sé cabhair a thabhairt do na gnólachtaí áitiúla. If we have learned anything from Covid and climate change, it is that we must go local and have transformative action. If anything captures that for me, it is the case of a certain business I am familiar with. I do not wish to single out a business but it is important. There is a restaurant very near TG4 that was set up during Covid. In the context of our debate on the importance of small businesses to the country and their being the backbone of the country, the restaurant in question has provided a paragraph setting out where it gets all its ingredients. It sources locally first and then gets its fish. Somebody goes to the ceant, the auction, in Ros an Mhíl and gets the fish. The vegetables come from the area, or east Galway or Mayo. The ingredients, including the cheese, are all sourced locally or organically but I am homing in on the fish because if anything captures what has happened regarding the unsustainability of the EU fisheries policy, it is Ros a Mhíl – a natural deepwater port that has utterly lost its fish processing and is now considering wind power, which I welcome, but which must be developed in a balanced way, as Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett has said.

There are so many issues concerning sustainability and learning that I would love to talk about but time is limited. Therefore, I ask that this debate be held regularly, with updates. The Minister might get a chance to reply to my two specific questions.

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