Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise two issues. I first wish to express my delight at the reopening of society. It seems that members of society are like prisoners released to some normality. We should also be aware that we are on probation and if we disobey the guidelines, we might find ourselves back in prison but, hopefully, that will not happen. As the tourism season begins, I observe a large influx of people and an interest in coming to places like west Cork or south Kerry, which is very welcome. In the part of the world I live in, Schull, tourism plays a massive role. The population of our town, or village as some people call it, multiplies by five in the months of July and August, particularly.

Having said that, I am particularly concerned by the plight of small inshore fishermen, not alone in Schull but in Union Hall, Baltimore, Kinsale and other coastal towns. It has recently come to my attention, and is something I have observed, that there is an influx of approximately 50 or 60 camper vans that come and park on the pier with little regard for fishermen. These fishermen fish from boats that are approximately 18 ft to 30 ft long; I am not sure what that is in metres. They are inshore fishermen whose guidelines and parameters for fishing are in accordance with the weather available to them. They may have to fish on a Saturday, Sunday or Monday because they cannot go out if there has been a terrible week of weather. They are impeded from accessing their gear, whether it is lobster pots, crab pots, shrimp or whatever, because the camper vans park in such an indiscriminate way. I raised this matter through a councillor with Cork County Council and it stated that tourism is very important, as if this is in some way relevant. That is not the case.

I ask the Leader to look at this situation since Schull is not the only place affected. The rights of traditional fishermen who are, unfortunately, becoming very scarce, must be respected. Tourists love their gourmet restaurants but they must remember that lobster, crab, shrimp, prawns and so on do not fall from the sky. The fishermen have to go out and get them. I ask that small inshore fishermen are respected whether they are in Cork, Kerry, Donegal or Galway.