Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I ask the Leader to consider my request.

On another related matter, both Senator O'Donovan and I have raised in the House on a number of occasions the problems of the Irish fishing industry. I have bemoaned the fact that the industry along the west coast has been destroyed. Incredibly it is now the case that France and Spain are seeking to reduce the current Irish fishing quota so that our quota can be transferred to theirs. It is difficult to believe in this day and age that they could seriously put forward the idea that the very low quota available to Irish fishermen would now be reduced further. They are doing this on the basis that the Irish fleet has been reduced and that therefore the quota may not be needed. However, the reason given for the reduction in the fleet was that the remaining boats would at least have a better share.

I ask the Leader, through the Cathaoirleach, to send a message that this House recognises the difficulties encountered by the fishing industry and to exhort the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food not to give one inch on this issue and that he should say this before he even gets on the plane to Brussels.