Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Members for the opportunity to attend this evening. I shall make a couple of general points in response to some of the comments before addressing the Bill itself.

I shall commence by referring to the fisherman missing off the south-east coast, off Kilmore Quay. His name is Mr. Patrick Barry, a lobster fisherman and father. The search continues and our thoughts are with his family and the rescue services trying to locate him. Unfortunately, it is another difficult situation for a fishing family.

I wish to counteract some of the pessimistic comments made about the future of the fishing industry that I heard here this evening. The end of the year is always a difficult time, particularly for the white fish or demersal fleet. Every December we negotiate quotas and then we work together with the industry to decide how to use the quota on a monthly basis throughout the year. Often times we use a lot of quota earlier in the year and run out of it towards the end of the year. However, the industry makes the decisions on how to use the quota allocation throughout the year. December is always a difficult month in terms of fishing quota because we will have run out of some of the total allowable catch quota and fish stocks. At this time of year the fishing industry is always frustrated and we are feeling it at the moment. It is important that we look at quotas in the round. Last year seafood exports from Ireland increased by 17% in value. That is a much more impressive growth than what has happened in the dairy and beef sectors or any other sector in the food industry. It increased by 17% in one year.