Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and I am glad the Leader arranged for a debate on the fishing industry. It is important that at least once or twice per year we have a debate on this valuable industry in the House. It is high time that at senior political and government level we examine the appallingly bad deal we got with the fish quotas from 1973.

Successive governments seem to have given up on the notion of ever revisiting or trying to renegotiate or get a better deal on quotas for Irish fishermen. It is a millstone around our necks historically, and we are a very compliant nation. Our fishermen are probably the most policed and compliant fishermen in the whole of the EU. A Cabinet committee led by the Taoiseach should at least embark on an investigation of the possibility of getting a better deal for our quotas. To give one simple example, in our Irish waters our fishermen have 8% of the monkfish quota, whereas the French have 50%. I could give several other examples. This is the message I am getting from fishermen in the west of Ireland, in west Cork, Donegal and other areas.

This nation took a hit when we saved Europe in the banking crisis, yet we seem to be giving up the fight for our fishermen and for rights to the fish in Irish waters, not internationally. Irish fishermen, particularly in the polyvalent and whitefish fleets, want to fish ecologically. They are very anxious to work with the Marine Institute, which they are doing, and to manage their fishing methods and fishing effort, as opposed to the set-up that is currently in place. A vessel can catch all kinds of whitefish in the same trawl and the same area, so sometimes when they pull up their trawl they might have 40% megrim, 35% cod, 15% whiting, etc. If they are over quota, that is where the difficulty comes up.

I had the good fortune to meet a Spanish fisherman who was landing fish in Castletownbere this summer while on a seven-day trip. As an example of how this works the wrong way, in my view, he had to dump 27 tonnes of whitefish, approximately €70,000 worth. There were no quotas for certain species. The message I am getting from the Irish fishing industry is that there should be fewer fishing days and less effort, which might consequently overcome the difficulty we are having. I do not know how the new discard proposals will deal with that trawlerman who landed the fish in Ireland, and vessels landing and processing fish here are very welcome. It is an awful waste when €70,000 worth of fish is dumped.

Would the Minister consider adopting an approach whereby there would be fewer days at sea and less fishing effort as a compromise? The Marine Institute is listening closely to the fishermen, but at Government level and possibly at the Minister's end, there seems to be no wish to go down that route.

In the pelagic section, the mackerel quota system seems currently to be in a mess. Brussels and Europe capitulated to the problem that the Faroe Islands put forward. Not alone did the Faroese get a huge mackerel quota, they are now entitled to come and fish in European waters. That was an overreaction by Europe, and Irish fishermen in the pelagic section fear that it will have a knock-on effect on the quotas we can expect to get.

Normally, 80% or 85% of the mackerel quota is allocated in the springtime and there is a 15% or 20% reserve to be given out in the autumn. I am hearing that the Irish fishing boats, which are not the biggest in Europe, would prefer to have the option of fishing the mackerel in the spring when the weather is benign, rather than chasing the mackerel shoals up off the coast of Scotland late in the year, when the weather is not the best and our fishing vessels put themselves at risk.

There seems to be an emerging trend whereby a lot of Celtic Sea herring is now being landed in Northern Ireland. Is there a better price available, or why is that trend emerging? Irish fish caught in the Celtic Sea are being landed outside this jurisdiction. I am of the view that any fish caught in Irish waters, whether it is landed in Scotland, Norway or wherever, will give us better value if it can be landed here, and if some of it is processed here. As I said, we are a very compliant nation. Is it the case that some of these vessels are being very strictly policed in the Republic of Ireland and so are landing where conditions are more benign?

Perhaps the Minister could outline whether the proposed sea fisheries Bill, which I believe has been introduced, will be dealt with during the life of this Government? There was a commitment given on that during the 2007 election. It was recognised that the 2006 Bill was very draconian and severe, and it was promised that some amendments to ameliorate the severity of that Bill would be tabled during the life of this Government.

Regarding problems in the inshore fishing sector, I have recently met a number of people in the west Cork area who are involved in fishing scallop. They feel that the goalposts keep being moved regarding the scientific checking and testing of the scallop industry. Inshore fisherman are unfortunately not very well organised. Their catch varies depending on the time of year; they are sometimes fishing for lobster and in the winter they fish for scallop and shrimp. I have never yet heard of any of these fishermen - some of them with young families trying to survive - availing of the fish assist scheme. I know that is under the Department of Social Protection, but I asked a senior official in that Department, and I have never yet come across a fisherman who has availed of this backup if the weather is bad or he is tied up for some time.

The Minister referred to the amount of money spent on the fishery harbours, and that is welcome. There are a lot of positives in his statement and I am not here to be totally critical, although I have certain questions to raise. It would be remiss of me not to remember my west Cork colleague, the former Minister for Agriculture and Food, Joe Walsh, who was buried yesterday in his native Ahiohill. In his time as a Deputy, a Minister and a Senator of this House, he did so much to promote the fishing industry in West Cork. He was a political catalyst for the €40 million spent in the development of Castletownbere Harbour, which took a few years to come to pass and is now done. He was also influential in bringing about the €65 million transformation of the whitefish fleet back in the late 1990s. Sometimes in politics we all hear the negative side, but Joe Walsh never forgot the fishing communities.

There are many challenges facing the fishing industry. It is frightening to hear from the Minister that he recently had a meeting with the French Minister dealing with huge cuts in the quotas - coming up on 40% or 50% - that are being proposed for certain fish. I am sure that when the Minister is going out before Christmas to do the annual negotiation of stocks and quotas, we will all support him in wearing the green jersey and getting the best deal possible for the fishermen. That is extremely important. It is also important that the four remaining fish processing factories in the country - two of which, the Castletownbere fishermen's co-op and the one in Baltimore, are in west Cork - be sustained to create onshore jobs. There is no doubt that the extra fish landings that are coming in, sometimes by foreign vessels, are creating jobs in these factories. Castletownbere and the Beara Peninsula are nearly 90% dependent on the fishing industry. Take fishing away from Castletownbere and the whole community is dead.

I wish the Minister well in his dealings with Europe. It seems to be a constant battle and I hope that when the negotiations are taking place, just as Christmas dawns, the results will be positive for him and for the country.