Tom Shehan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I call on him to arrange a meeting with the Minister, Deputy Coveney, because the reply did not address my proposal. If it were introduced, be it through legislation or a directive, it would give the enforcement agencies such as the Naval Service and the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, the knowledge and power they now lack. These vessels are owned in Holland and Spain and registered in France, England, Lithuania, Germany and elsewhere. They use fish quotas to mop up huge amounts of fish in Irish waters. I hope this will be brought to Europe, and I will contact our MEPs, because I cannot see why the relevant people in DG MARE and the Commission would not do this.

To make a comparison, this would be the same as a Garda pulling over a man for drink-driving and asking him whether he had drink taken to which he answers he has drunk ten pints. There is no committal on the other side. I am explaining it as best I can. The quotas are given to the country and the State allocates the quotas to the boats. When SFPA or the Naval Service boards the ship, it can see the fish catch which has been logged, and everything is above board, but it cannot state the ship is over quota because no quota has been specifically addressed to the ship. When the vessel goes back to its mother country, it will land more fish and there is no control. I call for a meeting with the fishing representative bodies and the Minister because in the interests of fairness and a level playing pitch every ship in EU waters should have a quota for its time at sea which should not be on a yearly basis. If a quota were allocated to a ship, SFPA and the Navy could compare and see, as many involved in fishing state, that our waters are being fished out because no quotas are allocated to a vessel while it is in the waters. Will the Minister of State request a meeting with the Minister and the fishing representative bodies on this matter?