Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)

Will the Leader convey a message of support to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, to call a halt to the unchecked rape by the Faroe Islanders and Icelanders of the mackerel fishery? Ireland has a mackerel quota of 70,000 to 80,000 tonnes but these two small island nations outside Europe are catching six times this per annum with no restrictions imposed by Europe. When the Minister attends the European fisheries summit meeting soon, I urge him to convey in the strongest fashion to the EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries that this must be stopped.

We condemned the Spaniards for years for overfishing. These are two small islands on the periphery of Europe doing what they like with regard to the mackerel fishery. While it is probably much more important to Donegal and the north west than to my area in the south west, mackerel is still, in financial terms, the most important quota to Irish fisherman.

I raised this issue here three years ago. I did not advert to it on the recent debate on the fishing industry and I am not asking that the Minister should attend the Seanad about it again. However, will the Leader convey our support to the Minister to protect the Irish fishermen, and to a lesser extent their Scottish counterparts, from this overfishing? If mackerel continue to be taken out by the Faroese and the Icelanders in an uncontrolled fashion, it will have severe repercussions on the mackerel fisheries for Irish fishermen. It is just greed and wrong.

Europe, not Ireland, should stop it and control the waters in the EU's boundaries. It is important it is done sooner rather than later because this overfishing will decimate and cause job losses in the Irish fishing industry. I am not condemning the Minister, Deputy Coveney, but I urge the House to support him in calling for a halt to this overfishing and asking the European Commissioner responsible to intervene in this issue.