David Norris (Independent)

I also welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, and wish him strength in the negotiations that he and his colleague, the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, will have to undertake on our behalf. It is very important that we safeguard the vital national resource of our fish stocks. I must put my hands up and admit that I do not speak as an expert on this matter, as I have no great knowledge of the fishing industry. For that reason, I greatly regret the absence from the House of our distinguished colleague, former Senator Tom Fitzgerald. I am glad, however, to have listened to the excellent speeches from both sides of the House, particularly from the Government side, especially from Senator Kenneally. If I may say so, Senators are lucky to have as a colleague someone with such a clear and developed knowledge of the fishing industry. I learned a great deal from Senator Kenneally.

I also extend my compliments to Senator MacSharry for his clearly researched speech on this Bill. My contribution will not be informed by such an expert knowledge, but nonetheless I feel very strongly about the matter. It is important that city boys should make it clear that we are also concerned about our natural resources and that we will not stand idly by and allow those who engage in fishing to be left stranded. It is clear that a disaster in our fishing industry has been in the making for a long time. I am not very impressed by Mr. Fischler, despite the apparent appropriateness of his name. He seems to be subject to dithering and ambiguity; he says one thing here and something else somewhere else. The situation in the industry is so clear that even someone like myself can understand it. I have raised this issue on the Order of Business on a number of occasions.

Traditionally, Irish people have not been enthusiastic about fish. It is an extraordinary irony that although we are surrounded by wonderfully rich fishing grounds, for cultural and historic reasons an interest in fishing has been shown by only certain small communities. Perhaps the lack of enthusiasm to which I refer results from the religious tradition of eating fish on Fridays as a form of penance. People did not really bother with fish on other days of the week. It remains a mystery to me that people living in coastal towns during the famine did not go to the seas en masse to harvest their resources. Irish people have been traditionally reluctant to eat fish despite the fact that we have had the most wonderful resources. Equally, we have lacked the capacity to prepare fish properly. Many of the immense advances in Irish cuisine during the last 20 or 30 years can be attributed to the marvellous work of the college at Cathal Brugha Street. Our superb restaurants can withstand comparison with those anywhere else in Europe or the world.

We have the raw materials in the form of fish and the capacity and skill to prepare, cook and present seafood dishes. This is a vital element in the fortunes of our tourism industry. Casual observers like me have seen species of fish disappear from menus; they are not available in chip shops or cordon bleu restaurants. The scarcity of particular species of fish, including that most wonderful of all fish, the cod, is clearly noticeable. This has had a detrimental impact on tourism.