Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim céad fáilte roimh an tUasal Ó Gallchóir. Ba mhaith liom mo leithscéal a ghabháil nach raibh mé anseo don ócáid ar fad, ach bhí ócáid eile ar siúl taobh amuigh den Teach. Ní leor dhá nóiméad leis an méid atá le rá agam a rá, ach b'fhéidir go bhfaighfidh mé nóiméad leis ina dhiaidh seo. I commend Mr. Gallagher for his work alongside the Sinn Féin MEP, Ms Martina Anderson and the success he has had in the European Parliament in having the Common Fisheries Policy amended to ensure special recognition for Irish fishing communities and their quotas which was to include the 1976 Hague preferences. We must be conscious that this can yet change in terms of the negotiations on the treaty. Formalising this assurance in the Common Fisheries Policy would safeguard the needs of our fishery dependent communities and their continued development. In practice this would mean that Ireland will get a top up on its quota in return for sharing the Irish fishing grounds with other member states.

I welcome also the emphasis on regionalism as blanket approaches on these policies can be counterproductive and a more regionalised approach would suit our fishing communities. The most significant outcome on the ongoing reform process was the recent decision to ban discarding of dead fish. On the issue of discards, the focus needs to be on yields rather than quotas. We are happy to see a ban on discards. This practice is wasteful, unsustainable and environmentally unfriendly, as Mr. Gallagher has indicated. However, many fishing representatives have claimed that the ban to be introduced from the beginning of 2014 is badly thought out and will not address the issue. They claim that the problem needs to be tackled through preventing the catching of younger fish which can be addressed through the design and regulation of nets and the closure of seasonal spawning grounds.

Aside from that, the parameters of the reforms are quite narrow, certainly in comparison with the much more radical reform of farm payments under the Common Agricultural Policy. None of the reforms will address the inbuilt imbalances which have impacted negatively on Irish fishermen in the past 40 years. The harm done by the Common Fisheries Policy to Ireland's fisheries is generally recognised. In 2002, the review group which reported to the forum on Europe referred to the inequalities and injustices inherent in the CFP. Perhaps it best summed up the situation when it declared that Ireland has only a small piece of its own cake.

Defenders of the Common Fisheries Policy would claim that quota allocation reflects the historical situation as it pertains to catch, but it has proven not only to have limited the ability of the Irish fleet to expand to the detriment of coastal communities but also to have impacted negatively on fish stocks into Irish territorial waters or, perhaps more accurately, what used to be Irish territorial waters.

It has long been the contention of Sinn Féin and others that Irish negotiators made a massive error in agreeing to the initial allocation of quota under the Common Fisheries Policy. That was ameliorated to some degree by the Hague preferences but nowhere near the extent that would be demanded by any genuine recognition of the contribution of the seas around our coast to the overall EU catch and the plight of the Irish fishing industry attempting to survive on a tiny share of that catch.

Former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, agreed with my colleague, Deputy Martin Ferris, a number of years ago regarding the inequitable distribution of quota, but no Irish Government has demanded the sort of radical reform of CFP that would be needed to redress the imbalance. Unless and until that is done, the Irish fishing sector will operate under inbuilt disadvantages. Not only are they restricted to a small share of the catch in Irish waters, they are also subject, more than any other EU fleet, to restrictions imposed in order to preserve fish stocks. It is our contention and that of others who have studied the situation that a reform of the CFP could ensure better stock conservation by reducing the overall take while at the same time increasing the amount of fish caught by Irish boats. Even though we have 11% of European Union fishing waters, we have only around 4% of the quota, but even that fails to illustrate adequately that we have been badly done as the Irish fishery is the most lucrative in the European Union, with 40% of edible fish consumed in the EU caught in Irish waters.

Had our fisheries been properly managed and developed under domestic control, it might have become a more valuable resource that could have played a valuable role in the economic development of the country. However, that is past. What is essential is that we use the plentiful resources which exist off our coast to try to assist in the economic recovery of the State and of the communities which rely on this industry.

I would like to hear Mr. Gallagher's opinion on the fish firm developmentatá beartaithe amach ó Inis Oirr. Táimid ag breathnú air agus sílim go bhfuil an ceart ag an Seanadóir Mullen go bhfuil ceist ann don Eoraip maidir le seo mar go bhfuil dhá rannóg Stáit in adharca a chéile. Tá an IFI ag rá nach leor an EIS atá déanta agus tá BIM ag brú an togra chun cinn. De réir mar a thuigim, tá precedent ag leibhéal na hEorpa go bhféadfadh lucht na slat iascaireachta cás a thógáil agus go mb'fhéidir go mbeadh muid ag críochnú suas sa Chúirt Eorpach ar an gceist seo seachas a bheith ag cur togra chun cinn a chuirfeadh fostaíocht buan ar bun. Sílim gur é an pointe mór eile atá le déanamh - seans gur luadh é seo - ná cén chaoi an bhfuilimid chun daoine óga a mhealladh isteach sa tionscal iascaireachta.

Táim an-buíoch as an tUasal Ó Gallchóir as teacht isteach agus buíoch as an deis a thug an Cathaoirleach dom labhairt anseo.