Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)

I am glad to get an opportunity to talk on behalf of the fishing industry and coastal communities in general. When fishermen cannot make money, coastal communities are adversely affected. We have to give credit to the British going back to the 1600s. They built up the fishing industry in Ireland and gave the local people at the time the wherewithal to get the fishing industry going, which we carried on through thick and thin for many years. Since our accession to the EU, we have lost much of our fishing quotas to the detriment of Irish fishermen and the coastal communities that I mentioned. All that has been done for them was to pay some of them. We saw the grand presentations they made to us in front of national conference centre where the Dáil was sitting during Covid. We saw the orderly fashion they came in, so many of them, and made their presentation. Each and every one of them was hurting and I always think of them for the meticulous way they made their presentation. There was no repetition. Each of them had their own amount to say and said it eloquently. We have not done enough for them. We need to.

There is one thing that I know anyway. I have not seen or tasted a mackerel for almost three years. Like all of us, I was very fond of them. They are not to be seen any more. Where are they gone? I do not know. I remember even people from Kilgarvan used to go back down to Valentia and fish off the rocks there. We lost one great man there, Ned Carey, from Coollick in Kilcummin. It was such a thing at the time but I am told there is no mackerel to be had now. There are serious concerns as well as we are losing our quotas to pair trawling in Kenmare Bay. When is that going to be addressed and fair play meted out? The larger trawlers are coming in and cleaning the whole thing out, every kind of fish. I am blaming that for the fact that I cannot get a mackerel or the people of Kilgarvan or anyone else around us. Where are they going? It is not fair. No one person should own anything like that and no large entity should be able to clean out a place like that. All I am asking for is fair play. I do not want to put those people out of business either but we have to see after the smaller people, the Joe Jims who are now dead and Donal Shea who braved the elements. They always said the fishing was better on the bad day when the wind and rain were blowing. That is when they were out at their best because they seemed to get the fish in those conditions.

We need to address that. We have been promised for so long. There are so many people along Tuosist and back the way to Ardgroom and back to Berehaven and there is concern about that. People around Kilmakillogue are always mentioning it. The one thing I have pride in is that these fish lorries go up through Kilgarvan village late at night getting fuel. We liked to see them passing. They would go back empty and go up full. There is not as many of them now. Why is that? We have lost our quotas, I am told. We need to ensure the continuation of the people in the rural communities down along the Iveragh peninsula and all the way around to Dingle. We need to retain the coastal communities and keep them going. Fishing did keep those people traditionally in business and kept the local shop and pub going. It is not just the fisherman; it is whole communities that depend on and take pride in their fishermen. We are losing that. I am asking the Ministers to fight harder for quotas and get what rightfully belongs to us. We seem to have left a lot of it slip under successive Governments. I am not blaming the two Ministers but this is their time to get into action and make a mark for themselves and ensure they get the respect we need them to get for the fishing and coastal communities. They are very important to us. We seem to have a shortage of housing everywhere but the biggest cry is here in Dublin. We need to spread out and diversify and have enough people living in the rural parts of Ireland as well. It cannot be all about Dublin. We must remember the people who are braving the elements on the western seaboard and trying to eke out a living. We have to see after them as well.

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