Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)

I rise with the same passion and fervour as other speakers but concerning the fishing industry. I have sought a debate on it. There is an old saying in my area of west Cork that one never kicks a man when he is down. The fishing industry from Donegal down the western seaboard to west Cork and Kerry is on its knees, unfortunately.

I am greatly concerned that not for the first time in Baltimore, west Cork, there was a dawn raid like one would see in war, where officials from the Criminal Assets Bureau or the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority raided a small fishing factory that is closed more often than it is open. When I looked for an explanation for this from the Minister, he said it was beyond his control. Where will we end up on this?

The fishing industry is in crisis and those owning 70% of the boats in Castletownbere cannot even meet their mortgage payments. We have a very hard-line enforcement section that is more appropriate to the Second World War than today, and we should not condone it. Perhaps this is a matter for the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform rather than the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. It is quite serious when one sees this going on. If the bodies were dealing with drugs, drug lords or criminal gangs, this same type of attention would not be given. Similar incidents have occurred in Donegal and in west Cork two or three years ago. We were told we would see fruit from this investigation but I have yet to see any results or court cases emanating which prove that this type of action is justifiable.

It is a serious matter because the coastal communities have gone totally against Europe. The fishermen were let down by the EU in 1973 and in some places along the coast, 90% of the electorate was against the Lisbon treaty because of how the people have suffered. The type of action today in west Cork - it does not matter if it is in west Cork, Kerry, Galway or Donegal - cannot be condoned.

I spoke publicly against the draconian powers of the Sea-Fisheries Protection Agency and in my view it is the sea fisheries persecution agency. It is draconian and unfair in its ways and it is certainly not lending a hand to a fishing industry which is ailing and on its knees.