Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister knows this case well because they have been in correspondence with him. He knows there is a vessel that has always been going in and out of Magheraroarty. He knows it now holds a UK licence and that the infrastructure it relies on is in Magheraroarty, the sheds and all the rest. He knows that the crew who are on that vessel are also from that area around Magheraroarty, and he knows that because he will not put pen to paper, he is forcing them to travel an extra three hours by boat around to Burtonport.

The Minister talks about additional resources that are required. Let me tell him this: that vessel was boarded three times by the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA. There was nothing seized and absolutely nothing untoward with it.

It was boarded at the weekend, on a Sunday, on each occasion - three times - between the hours of 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. There was no problem with resources when the SFPA wanted to board a vessel and found nothing untoward about it. When someone who is fishing off the coast of Scotland wants to bring their product into a Gaeltacht area in west Donegal - into the community where they were born and are from - the Minister prevents them from doing so. It makes no sense. In a week when the Minister refused to listen to a 14-year-old, Muireann Kavanagh, who is being prevented from fishing pollock with a line at Arranmore - she had to go to the European court in Strasbourg because her own government would not listen to her - the Minister needs to listen to fishermen in my community and designate that pier.

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