Brendan Ryan (Labour)

Each time I participate in a debate on fisheries, I am always impressed by the detailed knowledge of Members from the counties with large fishing industries. This belies any suggestion that there is a fund of expertise that knows better than elected politicians. Members are intensely aware of issues such as this and are more open to the experience of the people working in the industry than some of the experts who pronounce on it.

A debate on fisheries is like the two sides on the Titanic having a row rather than saving the ship. The Common Fisheries Policy has been a failure for a long time. It is impossible for a European Union of 25 member states to police properly its fisheries resources and to enforce forward-looking conservation policies, observed by all. One of the most profoundly wrong strategic decisions made by Ireland occurred during EEC entry negotiations when we traded a potentially lucrative fishing industry for the short-term gains of the Common Agricultural Policy. Both policies are now nearly gone.

I also have ethical questions — some international agencies have too — about western European countries launching enormous super trawlers and dispatching them to the west coast of Africa to catch other people's fish. This deprives people, already in grim circumstances, of their natural resources to make up for the scandalous way we have abused our own fisheries. One cannot entirely blame the Irish fishing industry in this regard. The impact of the Irish fishing industry on the fisheries resources of the European Union is minuscule when compared to other European countries' large fishing industries, particularly those of France, Spain and, to a lesser extent, the UK. However, the Irish industry has been disingenuous. As an outside observer, the fisheries industry seems to me to spend too much time telling us that the problem is not as bad as it is and, if it is, it does not need to be remedied. In a way, it has a point. I have no great confidence in the European Union, or in Ireland with its limited resources, to enforce many of the requirements of a proper conservation policy.

In my few years of idleness from politics, I asked a Dáil colleague to table a parliamentary question to ask the then Minister for the Marine the monetary value of fish caught in the Irish zone of economic interests by non-Irish registered trawlers. In his reply, the then Minister said the Department could only make an intelligent guess of €750 million in the previous year. How can one operate a serious conservation policy if it is not known how many fish are caught? Over 30 years, this amounts to between €15 billion and €25 billion in today's prices. That is the same amount as we received from the European Union for structural and other funds. It is a larger sum than we received from the Common Agricultural Policy. It is not an insignificant issue.

I made a joke about the Titanic because the European Union has a fisheries policy that will lead to the end of fish stocks in most EU waters. While I support the Fine Gael motion, I will repeat what I always say when the House discusses fisheries. As it cannot be done individually, it is time member states accepted collectively that the current regime is failing and will result in an absence of fish from most of the EU's zone of economic interest within 50 years. While the investment in harbours is a great idea, as they will provide great tourist attractions and recreational facilities, if the EU fails to fundamentally review policy enforcement at Community level and by member states, the argument will be a matter for historians to review. They will ask how we got it so badly wrong.