Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Given that Ireland is a maritime nation, our waters are a strategic asset. Our fishing communities are a living heritage and our policy choices now will decide whether the next generation will be able to make a livelihood from the sea. I welcome today’s debate and the Government’s continued investment in the sector.

Since 2020, over €180 million has been invested in seafood, with a further €50 million for local piers and harbours and €157.7 million provided in budget 2026 to keep that momentum going. That money matters on the ground in the form of safer harbours, modern kit and real supports for crews and processors. I welcome the re-establishment of the role of Minister of State for fisheries and marine. Since his appointment earlier this year, the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, has moved quickly. His work has encompassed capital works in our fishery harbour centres, reciprocal access with the UK out to 2038 with no change to quotas, the launch of the FLAG coastal communities scheme and a dedicated skills plan through BIM to bring new entrants into a modern, professional seafood industry. These are practical measures that build resilience when margins are tight and crews are hard to find.

There are major challenges for the sector ahead. ICES advice points to sharp reductions next year, with a 70% cut signalled for mackerel, 41% for blue whiting and 22% for boarfish. In the context of Ireland’s most valuable species, that is very worrying. The Government has committed to work with the industry on a pathway through this. Let us be honest, however. An adjustment of anything close to this level will bite. It will bite hardest where communities are most dependent on a narrow species mix. That is exactly why targeted investment, fleet efficiency, skills and local value-add are not just nice to have, they are also survival tools.

Let me turn to Dublin and the east coast, where the pattern is distinctive. Howth is our designated fishery harbour centre in Dublin. It anchors a significant processing cluster and sustains hundreds of jobs across the value chain. Continued capital investment there involving dredging, safety, berths and utilities is essential to keep output high and to secure processing jobs that support families right across the Dublin area. That work is already funded this year under the national capital allocations for fishery harbour centres, so let us keep it moving at pace. However, Dublin’s story is bigger than one harbour. Along the coast, we have small inshore fleets working pots for brown crab and lobster from Skerries and Clogherhead down to Bulloch Harbour in Dalkey, Kilmore Quay and Dunmore East. The decision to prohibit trawling by vessels over 18 m inside the six-mile zone helps restore that link between local resources and local boats. We support that policy and we want to see the benefits land locally.

I have two practical asks for Dublin Bay. The first relates to Dún Laoghaire Harbour. Dún Laoghaire is not a fishery harbour centre, but it is a major harbour with slipways, a public boatyard, fuel, water and easy logistics. I want to see it utilised further for inshore activity. That means designating a modest working area in the Coal Harbour or the Old Harbour for time-limited commercial landings by small craft, providing hose points and shore power, securing gear storage in order that pots will not be competing with leisure users or those engaged in boat and craft repairs. None of that would turn Dún Laoghaire into a second Howth, but it would make a real difference for inshore crews and for restaurants that want local catch on local plates.

My second ask relates to Bulloch Harbour. The tradition of lobster potting from Bulloch is part of our coastal identity in Dún Laoghaire. Let us back it with targeted micro-measures, such as small-gear grants, safe haul-out and storage, a seasonal conservation plan developed with fishers and young entrant supports tied to BIM training, in order that new skippers can step aboard with competence and confidence. If we want the tradition to endure, we should make it a little easier and a lot safer to work from Bulloch Harbour.

Across the east coast, there is a wider co-existence agenda. Offshore renewable energy is coming. Survey vessels are already using our ports, and the build-out is going to intensify. The State’s seafood-offshore renewable energy working group is the right forum. We need its outputs to be nailed down in practical protocols involving charted corridors, fair compensation for disruption and opportunities for fishing vessels to earn income on surveys and guard-duty work without being lost to the fleet. Dublin Bay and Dún Laoghaire Harbour can be national exemplars of good practice here, with climate action and coastal livelihoods rowing in the same direction.

We also need to keep pulling EU levers. Ireland must keep fighting for fair outcomes under the Common Fisheries Policy and in annual quota rounds. With European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund moneys already underpinning our seafood development programme, we should ring-fence the next multi-annual financial framework in order that fisheries supports are stable through the cycle.

As we prepare for the 2026 review milestones under the UK-EU trade and cooperation agreement, Ireland’s bottom line is clear - defend our access, defend our share and make sure landings support processing and jobs at home.

Regarding skills and safety, BIM through its plan, The Next Wave, is investing in the people we need, such as skippers, engineers, processors and those with business skills. That must continue. If we want young people to choose this life, we owe them modern kit, predictable income and a harbour they can come home to. We keep the knowledge alive by ensuring that people know how to set a string, read a tide and bring a boat and a crew back safe.

We must keep investing in Howth, unlock practical inshore facilities at Dún Laoghaire, safeguard and support lobster potting at Bulloch, manage offshore renewable energy in order that fishers will be partners and hold our line in Brussels and London while we ride out the stock cycle. If we do that, we will ensure that the next generation in Dublin, on the east coast and at ports around the island will see a future at sea.

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