Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will not over-indulge on time. While the joint committee on agriculture was sitting in private session, I raised an issue that I now wish to put on the public record. In the past two weeks, a fisherman landed monkfish on the docks and gave it away for free. That person now faces prosecution. Will the Leader ask the Minister to make a statement on the matter of discards? The EU's policy on discards is immoral.

I welcome the farmers from Kilkenny and all of the IFA members who are outside Leinster House. The Minister will negotiate CAP, a part of which is the Common Fisheries Policy, CFP. Will he ensure that the issue of discards is addressed? Fishing is subject to quotas, but so is milk. If I overproduce milk, it still goes into the food chain and I am not asked to dump 100 litres every day. If I have a wheat quota of three tonnes per acre and I produce four tonnes, what would I do with the extra tonne? That fish are being thrown back is immoral. We have the best fed seagulls in the world.