Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the consultation and the 5,000 submissions but we really need a date for when those submissions will be analysed. I suspect that the vast majority of them are in support of the Government's policy, as were the High Court and the Court of Appeal. Both of them found no difficulties with the policy; it was the consultation. The two gentlemen who brought the first action said it was because the consultation process was flawed. The Court of Appeal did not agree with that and stated that the Government and the Department failed to tell England and the EU. That was the only fault line, not the policy. It is really important to come back and ask why this was urgent in 2018. It was urgent because of unsustainable fishing practices within the six-nautical-mile zone. That has gone on unabated for the past six years. On top of that, if we do not have a policy, we will not be able to support local fishers and rural development along the coastal area from Donegal to Kerry unless this policy is brought in as a matter of urgency. What resources has the Department put in place to deal with the extraordinary number of submissions?

See this speech in context