Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)

I welcome the Minister of State. This may be the first time we have been face to face. I appreciate his recent invitation to Castletownbere. Unfortunately, I was at another meeting and could not get there, but I will certainly meet him soon.

I listened to some of the Deputies speaking in the Chamber earlier. I do not like talking about Deputies when they are not present, but Deputy Ward - not in a bad sense - said it is not all Europe's fault. Maybe he is right; it is his own Government's fault and successive Governments' fault. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have literally turned their backs on Irish fishermen. That is a well-known fact. I will read out some of the reasons. I hope the Minister of State will turn this around, because if he does not, more and more people would be looking to decommission, but that scheme is gone. That was the best deal that came out of the last Government.

The previous Government gave everything away. Brexit came and we left Michel Barnier to do all the negotiations and he certainly looked after France and Spain. Ireland was a passenger - it was a trailer with no hook on it and it fell off along the way. It is so sad and unfortunate. I begged the Taoiseach to make sure we got right in there, but he was not listening. He told me there could never be a stand-alone Minister for fisheries and now we have one. Hey presto; we pressed a button and things can happen.

Recently I took up an invitation to go to Kilmore Quay, County Wexford. These fishermen stayed ashore especially to meet me to discuss the unfairness of the way in which they and their livelihoods are being treated. One of the big issues for them is that they fish black sole. They are only allowed 4% of the quota. Listen to this. Belgium, however, is allowed to fish around Irish waters for 80% of the black sole quota. It is an astonishing situation. It is bad enough that they have to put up with this shocking deal, but when they go out to fish other species and are not targeting black sole, it gets into their nets as it is so plentiful. It is not possible for them to try to fish for other species without black sole getting into their nets. They often catch black sole, which was not targeted for fishing. They have to dump it or bring it in for dumping, which is completely crazy. They are asking for an increase in their black sole quota under The Hague preferences. They are asking for The Hague preferences to be invoked. Will the Minister for the marine increase their black sole quotas? I would appreciate it if he addressed that.

While I was talking to these fisherman, who were complimentary about our Ceann Comhairle, Deputy Verona Murphy because she is from that area, they told me how angry they are at the cost of all of this. They are breaking the law if they bring in this black sole. If they log it, they are breaking the law. If it gets into their nets without being targeted, they are breaking the law as they have no quota. They want to fish legally and do not want to be branded as criminals. Can we have some common sense here and increase the black sole quota for them?

The maddening thing for anyone who was at this meeting was the idea that they can only fish 4% of the quota. It is astonishing. Belgian boats can fish all around them and are laughing at them. They told us that they are laughing at them with 80% of the quota.

I believe this was raised in the December quota meeting in 2024 and the Commission had a rabbit-out-of-the-hat suggestion that the Hague preferences should only be invoked when the quotas fell to ten tonnes because of Brexit. The fishermen's calculation was that the Hague preferences falls below 190 tonnes. The Commission and the Department were supposed to investigate this and report back in January 2025, but, needless to say, the fishermen have not heard a word about.

On behalf of the fishermen of Kilmore Quay, will the Minister of State increase their black sole quota? Will he meet with them in Wexford? The Ceann Comhairle and I would appreciate it if he let us know if that was happening as it is hugely important. In fairness, the Minister of State has been meeting with people. I acknowledge that and can be fair where it is needed. I will also be speaking to our MEP, Ciaran Mullooly, to see whether he can come at it from the European side.

While in Kilmore Quay, the fishermen told me about their infrastructure. They are right about the piers and infrastructure in Ireland. They mentioned Kilmore Quay, Castletownbere, Donegal and Galway and they said that there is proper infrastructure and proper piers every 10 km in Newfoundland. We are in a situation where we are lucky to have four or five of them around the country while the others are begging for improvements.

Irish fishermen have been facing significant challenges due to the ongoing dispute over fishing rights around Rockall. The core issue stems from the UK's claim of a 12-mile exclusion zone around Rockall, which had led to Irish fishing vessels being banned from fishing in these waters since Brexit. This ban has had a substantial impact on the Irish fishing industry, particularly affecting the catch of species such as squid and haddock. Will the Minister of State give me an update on where this is at present?

In recent years, the population of bluefin tuna has exploded. Ireland had a previous track record of more than 2,000 tonnes per year when Michael Keating was sent to ICCAT as the Irish representative. We applied to ICCAT and now receive a quota. The Japanese fleet is fishing along the 200-mile international limit to freeze bluefin tuna for a demanding market in Japan. The carbon footprint in getting this fleet to Ireland would be massive, and their fishing practices are unregulated by any authorities. I was told that Japanese send planes to Ireland to track the bluefin tuna. Again, our Irish fishermen cannot fish for the fish in their own seas. It is scandalous.

I spoke about the mussel farm in Kinsale before and the opposition to it. The Minister of State needs to look at that along with the senior Minister. The licence was given despite serious information being missing. A licence was given for a 62-acre mussel farm off the coast of Kinsale, which is scandalous.

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