Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein)

The Irish fishing industry is in a state of flux and is on course for a full-scale collapse if the proposed 2026 quotas are accepted and implemented. These crippling quotas represent a 70% cut in mackerel, a 41% in blue whiting and a 22% cut in boarfish. These quotas will financially sink every fishing boat in Ireland, whereas on the other side we have non-EU fleets from the likes of Russia, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Norway continuously overfishing. Not only that, but they are being rewarded for it through the unilateral setting of quotas. For example, in one week, the Norwegian fleet caught 40,000 tonnes of mackerel, equivalent to the entire quota allowed for the Irish fleet. This begs the question: who exactly are the Europe-based fishing corporations, which make millions of euro and benefit from the reciprocal access to the fish in Norwegian water? Maybe the Minister of State will use his office to investigate these corporations and publish the findings.

We know this is a very difficult situation and by no means an easy task. The fishers of Ireland are sending out a clarion cry for the Minster of State to call on the Commissioner to invoke Regulation (EU) 1026/2012, under which the Commissioner has the power to legally address and respond to unfair competition through trade and market restrictions. The irony of this is that the Irish fleet has followed the science and played by the books, yet these countries outside the EU are rewarded while our fishing industry is facing financial ruin. We in Sinn Féin, through our spokesperson on fisheries, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, and the Chair of the fisheries committee, Connor McGuinness, are asking the Minister of State to create an emergency financial rescue package for the next couple of years. We believe the Minister of State has a vital role to play in supporting Irish fisheries in this. We ask him to work towards establishing a stand-alone "Fish Ireland" office in Brussels, to consider real-time closures, to examine the Brexit adjustment reserve and unspent funds, and to vigorously negotiate the quota allocations.

My county of Wexford is a seafaring country, with fishing villages totally depending on the industry, from Rosslare to Kilmore Quay, Duncannon, Slade Harbour and Ballyhack, and these are villages that need the Minister of State's support and help. I appeal to him again to negotiate new fishing quotas and to use the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund to support our fishing industry and coastal communities.

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