Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

I apologise for being a little late and thank my colleague, Deputy Conor McGuinness, for introducing my question.

I appreciate that the Minister of State is new to his role but my difficulty is that what he has just read out was said to me again and again by the previous Minister for agriculture, Deputy McConalogue. This is an uninhabited rock and there is just no basis under international law for what the British are doing. It has cost millions of euro every year, not just for fishermen in Donegal, Greencastle and Killybegs, but all the way down to Castletownbere. Fishermen from around Ireland are affected. It is outrageous action. Basically, there is a blockade around the rock and threats to people's livelihoods for fishing in their traditional grounds. At some point, if the British Government will not do what is right, we have to look at international arbitration. It is outrageous that this has gone on for so long.

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