Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Of course. Safety at sea is important, particularly in small communities such as the one in the south of Wexford with which I am familiar where a number of serious accidents have occurred at sea, resulting in significant loss of life. The quality of the fleet, particularly smaller vessels, is important.

On the Minister's contribution, he started by hailing the dawn of a new era for the seafood industry. I come to this debate more from the perspective of a consumer than as someone who is an expert on fisheries. Listening to what the Minister had to say, I was somewhat disturbed by a number of things. He referred to the fact that the economic value of fishing to Ireland was continuing to grow, increasing from 246,000 tonnes in 2010 to 280,000 tonnes in 2013. I was prepared to be impressed until I discovered that the total tonnage caught in Irish waters amounted to 1.2 billion tonnes. We are not at the races in terms of the volume of fish actually caught in Irish waters according to the Minister's own statement. He has said Ireland must attract a greater proportion of the 1.2 billion tonnes of fish caught in Irish waters and have them landed and processed here. He said landings in Ireland had increased from 246,000 tonnes to 280,000 tonnes while noting that the six harbours managed by his Department handled 85% of all stocks landed in Ireland.