Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I also welcome this Bill which my party supports in principle and I look forward to its expeditious passage through the House. It contains some very important provisions which need to be up and running as soon as possible as I believe the Department intends. It is incumbent on us to give all possible support in that regard.

In my new capacity as party spokesperson on the fisheries area, I attended the first full session yesterday of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications and the Marine at which there was a series of submissions on the review of the EU Common Fisheries Policy. This Bill has emerged at a critical stage in the evolution of the CFP. In reviewing the past 20 years of the CFP, one cannot avoid the conclusion that it has been an abject failure in relation to the Irish fishing industry. One would hope that the current talks at EU level will yield a better result but that is not the impression which comes across at the moment. There is little indication of any significantly better outcome for the Irish fishing industry and that is most regrettable.

When Ireland's entry to the EU was originally negotiated, the fishing industry was the poor relation. An excellent deal was negotiated for the farming sector, to the extent that the former farm leader, the late T.J. Maher, described it as a "bonzana". It did indeed bring extraordinarily beneficial effects for Irish agriculture and farm incomes. It allowed the development of our agriculture industry to enable it to compete at European level to its own great benefit and that of the national economy. In relation to our fisheries, however, considering our island status and our coastline, one must ask why there has been such abject failure to develop the potential of our fishing industry and whether any change for the better can be expected. I see little indication of hope in that direction. Perhaps, as a matter of public policy, we should have a far more in-depth review of our own management of this issue.

One of the many points made to the joint committee yesterday was that, in fisheries sectors six and seven off the Irish coast, although Ireland has 42% of the marine area, we only have 6% of the quota. While those figures have their origins in the situation of the 1970s, we appear to have cut off our noses to spite our faces. I am prepared to defer to colleagues, such as Senator Kenneally who is far more knowledgeable than I on this matter. However, on the basis of his speech just now, one would have to express concerns about the current and future state of Irish fisheries. That situation requires serious consideration by the joint committee and this House.

I wish the Minister and the Irish negotiating team in the review of the Common Fisheries Policy the best of good luck and our full support will go with them. The protection of the Irish Box is of national interest and should be treated and negotiated as such. The state of health, or otherwise, of some of our fishing organisations should also be looked at in terms of public policy and the support which State agencies can give to make sure that they are fully representative and able to carry out the work which their members and the State require.