Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

This is a classic case of a debate which is not being fully acknowledged on all sides. Two substantial interests are involved, one of which wants to close down the other. Much of the debate has been unbalanced. On the views expressed in the constituency in which I live, the report refers to the small snap net fishery in the south east. I do not think anyone is suggesting that it has a serious impact on salmon reaching the spawning grounds. As an inland county, such representations as I get are from anglers' associations calling for drift netting to stop.

As legislators we must take account of the national interest as well as the local interest. We are being asked to balance the interests of people, the coastal fishermen, who obtain a very substantial part of their livelihood from fishing and which has been an industry there for generations, against those of a leisure activity. Tourism is, of course, one of our most important industries and angling is part of the tourism product.

Like the Minister, I walked past a few hundred demonstrators in Killarney at the weekend, including one or two from County Tipperary. Undoubtedly the populist approach is to treat it as an all or nothing, black or white issue but the Minister and the Government are within their rights to take a more nuanced view. Government must balance conflicting interests where each of those interests is legitimate. I believe the Minister is trying to do that, conscientiously and to the best of his ability.

It is clear from the expert material that the quantity of salmon is not solely a function of drift net fishing. Indeed, it is quite possible that if it were to stop from next year, the salmon stocks might show little difference because of other factors involved, such as pollution and seals. In addition, the science on this, as on so many other things, is imperfect. We do not fully understand the causes for fluctuations in catches. I do not wish to deny that there is prima facie a problem. This has been addressed in recent years by reductions in drift netting and it might be necessary, depending on how matters develop, to seek further reductions.

However, I believe the Minister has been a little isolated in this debate. It is easy for people living inland like me or in city constituencies to be on the side of the angels in this debate and simply write off places such as Donegal. In Donegal there is, perhaps, the highest unemployment rate in the country. In south-west Donegal, fisheries are a natural resource and the area is the capital of fishing. We do not have the right simply to make these people redundant.

There should be balance in the debate. We should acknowledge that there are many technical factors involved and we should take the trouble to try to understand them. The politically popular choice is simply to get on one's soap box and pronounce a simplistic message but if we do that, we will not do justice to the people who live around our coasts and who depend on fisheries for a living.