Shane Ross (Independent)

I agree. It will hand it over to someone else while it goes into the next general election having fooled everybody.

This is a serious national problem and it is not good enough for the Minister of State to obfuscate with soft and sweet words of reassurance of the kind he use in his contribution this evening. Both he and I know there will be hundreds of people picketing the Fianna Fáil Ard-Fheis this weekend about this problem. Are we complaining about something which does not exist or is it a realistic problem? It is a problem which affects the tourist industry, anglers and anybody peripheral to those interests. It is doing the country immense damage abroad.

The Minister of State stated he could paper the walls with the number of e-mails he has received, many of which are from abroad. This suggests a form of xenophobia. There is nothing wrong with e-mails from abroad because the country depends upon e-mails and communication from abroad and upon tourism, mobility and public opinion from abroad.

The Minister of State will be aware that many of these communications come from Europe. In terms of drift netting Ireland has the worst reputation and is the worst performer within the European Community. I am mortified to hear the Minister of State is on the receiving end of so much flak even though I am also delighted. It shows that Ireland's image is worse than I thought——