Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. It is very important to give a timeline. The policy was good. The courts did not strike down the policy; in fact, they made it clear that they had no input at all into the policy. As far as they could see, it was a good, sustainable policy and the Government was entitled to do that. What happened was that eventually the Court of Appeal, and earlier the High Court on different grounds in terms of the consultation, found that the Department failed to notify Europe and failed to notify England. They are the two specific reasons why it fell but the actual substance of it did not fall. Here we are in 2024, and unsustainable quantities of sprat are being taken out of the water. Does the Minister have any idea how much sprat has been taken out in 2023? For example, in 2019 we had 14,353 tonnes. That increased in 2020 to over 15,000 tonnes. In 2021 it was 14,000 tonnes. In 2022 and 2023, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea advised that when you apply the precautionary approach, catches should be no more than 2,240 tonnes in each year. We are way above that. We are either five times above it or, sometimes, ten times above it. We are certainly three or four times above it. What is happening in the meantime to protect the ecosystem? I am over time but I appeal to the Minister to provide a date.

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