Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Céad fáilte roimh an Aire. Is díospóireacht iontach tábhachtach é seo agus is maith an rud go bhfuil an Bille seo tugtha chun cinn ag Seanadóir Ó Domhnaill agus Seanadóir O'Donovan. Ach mar adúirt an Ceannaire, an Seanadóir Cummins, tá sé cineál áiféiseach go bhfuil Fianna Fáil ag tabhairt Bille chun cinn agus go bhfuil coinsias faighte acu anois agus iad in san bhFreasúra, tar éis gur iad a thug isteach an Bille a rinne corpáin de na hiascairí i 2006.

It is uncanny to see Fianna Fáil’s new-found conscience now that it is in opposition when its Minister, Noel Dempsey, originally criminalised fishermen.

It is opportunism of the highest degree that it decided to organise public meetings with fishermen around the State to bring this forward when it is in opposition when it should have done the right thing when in government. The Bill must be taken in its broader aspect and I know the Minister's bona fides on this issue, that he has done his best on the European quota scenario in Ireland. However, we must go back to 1973 when we started in the quota system to see how the Irish fishing fleet has been decimated, particularly the smaller vessels along the western coast. In my home area of Rossaveal we used to have a thriving fishing community with lots of boats fishing out of Rossaveal and the Aran Islands and smaller ports. Fish factories employed up to 200 or 300 people. Those fish factories are very seasonal now and employ very few people.

We need to take a broader view on where we are going with the fishing industry. There has been a major imbalance in how the quota has been shared out nationally. That must be laid at the door of the previous Fianna Fáil Administrations which had scope to change how the quotas were divided among the bigger and smaller players in the industry. Many previous Ministers could have done much to revitalise the fishing industry along the western, south-western and south-eastern coasts by having a better division of the quota which would have given the smaller polyvalent vessels a better chance to take in and land more fish that would have been processed here on the island of Ireland.

We all know we have an ageing population of fishermen in Ireland. Young people are not being drawn into the industry because it is so hard to make a living and is very dangerous. Sinn Féin supports fishermen and their families in making a decent livelihood for themselves. That is where the debate should be focused. We do not support the Private Members' motion because it is blatant political opportunism from Fianna Fáil. The real issue for fishermen is quotas and the dumping of millions of tonnes of perfectly healthy fish into the sea. This is a ludicrous practice which should have ended years ago and we welcome the fact that there have been moves at a European level to tackle this, although it is taking a very long time.

Sinn Féin welcomes the EU's commitment that the practice is to end within six years. It was ludicrous to allow millions of tonnes of fish to be dumped back into the sea because of EU bureaucracy while Irish fishermen were coming under more pressure from the EU because of low fish stocks. It is imperative that the stated six-year target is met and preferable that the practice be phased out before then. The end of this practice is crucial for the survival of European fish stocks and the Irish fishing fleet. Steps must be taken to ensure there is effective policing of this issue and the illegal practices of non-Irish fleets in Irish waters.

The recent briefing, Unknown Waters, by the New Economics Foundation, NEF, makes a case for making the industry more sustainable, profitable and capable of promoting employment. It said:

We know nothing about the health of half of our fish stocks. Lax government controls and enforcement means 30% to 40% of the fish we land comes from illegal, unreported or unregulated sources.

NEF and others argue that this issue can be addressed by assembling adequate data on fish stock and the proper enforcement of laws that prevent over-fishing.

We forthrightly opposed the imposition of criminal sanctions in the 2006 Bill. They were wrong then and are wrong now. The Government promised, in opposition, to get rid of these criminal sanctions and replace them with administrative sanctions. I welcome the commitment that the Minister is examining that and will bring forward a Bill to that end, but it is taking a long time and the fishermen need swifter action. There will be legacy issues of a number of the cases that are in court and must be dealt with, people who have, under the present regime, been hauled before the courts because of minor administrative infringements on the regulations. One of the most significant issues we have with the Bill is that there is no recourse to the courts for an appeal and that is a weakness, which is why we will not support it. We need to change the criminalisation of fishermen.

Instead of looking at the fishing industry as a negative, we need to examine what we can do to revitalise coastal communities and make our ports viable again. The Oireachtas sub-committee is making recommendations such as having a specific heritage licence for the smaller traditional vessels which would allow them to fish free of quota. We have mentioned that before and it should be examined. The levels of quota they would use would be relatively small but it would revitalise the industry and the communities where those people live.