Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to discuss two issues, the first of which is one my colleague, Councillor Níall McNelis, has asked me to raise. It relates to something that he and other public representatives in Galway have been facing recently, namely, giant trawlers fishing in Galway Bay and offloading their catch of tiny juvenile fish. We have all seen clips of these trawlers sweeping thousands of tonnes of sprat up in large nets from Galway to Clare. These young fish are crucial to the food chain's ecosystem, but it seems that they have been transferred to other fishing ports to be turned into pellets to feed farmed fish. As Councillor McNelis has stated locally, there is a deep concern that there will be no fish in Galway Bay next year. Will the Deputy Leader raise this important matter with the Minister and ask what he will do to allay these fears and whether this practice can be stopped or just reduced?

The second issue is one I have raised numerous times, namely, that of the Defence Forces. Given recent media reports of the serious concerns of representatives of our Defence Forces about pay talks, I ask the Deputy Leader to seek an urgent debate with the Minister for Defence. When one hears representative associations coming out of recent public pay talks stating that they feel ostracised, it asks questions about how our Defence Forces are being treated. On the Order of Business three weeks ago, I mentioned how figures that we had obtained showed that up to 500 personnel would leave the Defence Forces by the end of the year. The recent commentary in the media will not encourage the new recruits we need to restore the strength of our Defence Forces to the Government's figure of 9,500 personnel. I have joined Senator Craughwell and other Senators in asking for a debate with the Minister on the terms of reference of the forthcoming commission on defence, which will be before the Cabinet today. Will the Deputy Leader contact the Minister at the earliest opportunity? The Department of Defence needs to play a crucial role in the commission. There needs to be a review. We need a debate on the fears of our Defence Forces' representative groups.