Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

It is a pleasure to be back in the Seanad again. This is my second opportunity since being elected to the other House. I recall my time here with fondness.

I join the Acting Chairperson in welcoming Eoghan Clonan, someone I have come to know over many years visiting this House with his dad. It is fantastic to see him with us today.

I thank the Senators for seeking this opportunity for statements on fishing. I am pleased to discuss the important issues and concerns affecting the fishing sector. I reassure the Seanad that as Minister of State with responsibility for fisheries and the marine, I recognise the importance of maintaining a vibrant fishing sector, both for the communities that rely on them and the wider economy. The programme for Government, Securing Ireland’s Future, reflects this approach by committing to securing a sustainable future for the fisheries sector while supporting coastal communities that rely on this activity for their livelihood. My appointment as a dedicated Minister of State with responsibility across fisheries and the marine to co-ordinate and integrate these key policy areas, clearly demonstrates the commitment of Government to the sector.

Our seas are a national asset that provide a wide range of commercial and societal benefits, through activities such as commercial fishing and aquaculture, but also through their contribution to transport, tourism, recreation, renewable energy and cultural heritage. They also play a vital role in supporting marine life and biodiversity for a healthy planet. At a recent ocean conference, I believe it was either President Macron or John Kerry, the former United States Secretary of State, who said that if the Amazon Basin is the lungs of the Earth, our seas and rivers are the veins and arteries that support that life.

Bord Iascaigh Mhara’s Business of Seafood Report 2024 offers a comprehensive assessment of the economic impact of the seafood sector. It reported that the Irish seafood industry is valued at €1.24 billion, an increase of 4% on 2023. The sector employs almost 8,000 people directly across fishing, aquaculture and processing, and a total of almost 17,000 people when indirect employment is included. Fish landings in Ireland were valued at over €461 million in 2024, with €325 million coming from Irish vessels and €136 million from non-Irish vessels.

The report shows a value growth of 25% in the aquaculture sector, which is also encouraging. Based on the observations I have had since joining the Department, there is potential to grow the sector in the years ahead. It will take considerable effort and will require reform of the existing licensing system to achieve that. We will work on that as the years go by.

These metrics clearly demonstrate the resilience of the sector, despite significant challenges in recent years, and its capacity to pivot and adjust to a changing environment. This progress would not be possible without strategic and well-targeted investment, both public and private. Targeted supports, funded through the Brexit adjustment reserve, BAR, were aimed at helping the sector to navigate the unprecedented challenge of Brexit. Senators with an interest in fishing know well the highly negative impact Brexit had on many sectors, but particularly the fishing sector. The very significant loss of quota to the Irish fleet in particular as a trade for continued access to British waters has been challenging for the sector. While the BAR was a help, it did not mitigate all the impact there. I am very cognisant of that when I talk with people affected by that event.

Total Government spend across the seafood sector, over the five-year period from 2020 to 2024, was in excess of €800 million. This included investment of almost €160 million in State-owned public marine infrastructure. This funded a comprehensive range of supports to mitigate the impact of Brexit and enable the sector to adjust to operating post Brexit. Many of these supports were the result of the recommendations of the seafood task force, to which industry representatives made a valuable contribution.

More generally, funding for supports for the commercial seafood sector are provided under the seafood development programme. These are designed to strengthen competitiveness, sustainability and employment. The programme is cofunded by the Government and the EU Commission under the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund 2021-2027, better known as EMFAF. Schemes for industry under the SDP are primarily implemented by Bord Iascaigh Mhara and Bord Bia. Bord Bia assists seafood processors to attend international trade shows and market study visits, and to carry out consumer and market research. Other supports like marketing, innovation, new product development etc. are accessed by processors.

Many Senators are aware that I have placed a heavy emphasis on personal engagement with the seafood sector since I took on this role in February. So far, I have visited three of the State’s fishery harbour centres, Killybegs, Castletownbere and Ros an Mhíl, more than once. I have engaged directly with stakeholders across the board from the catching, aquaculture and processing sectors. I am due to visit Howth and Dunmore East this month and I intend to get to Dingle to coincide with the regatta in August.

I have met with seafood representative groups, all recognised producer organisations, the National Inshore Fisheries Forum, NIFF, the fish co-operatives, processors and aquaculturalists on several occasions. I was also delighted to attend the Skipper Expo in March to meet the wider community. I have supported the processors at the Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona with BIM and am open to supporting them whenever I can and wherever the need arises.

During European Maritime Day in May, I had the pleasure of visiting Castletownbere with the European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis, where together we invited all the seafood representatives to join us for a joint meeting. The occasion also provided me with an opportunity to present the concerns of the sector in Ireland to the Commissioner. Having had the opportunity to meet him on a number of subsequent occasions, I believe that his visit to Castletownbere was impactful and that he has listened to the message from Irish fishermen and women.I am thankful for the co-operative way in which the sector engaged with the Commissioner on that occasion. Often, it is difficult because many of the people who are directly involved are impacted so negatively and an opportunity to meet a Commissioner has the potential to boil over. On that occasion, it was structured, direct, informative and helpful. I thank the industry for the professional way in which they engaged with the Commissioner.

The programme for Government commits to publish a five-year fisheries sector strategy that will include an examination of the processing sector and to continue to support and promote improvements in fisheries and aquaculture. I am conscious that the processing sector is suffering and hurting because, as quotas reduce, even though values of fish stocks may increase on the marketplace, the processors at the end of the day are only taking a margin. A reduced volume of fish or quota has a real negative impact. That is something we have to look at. I will be talking to my colleagues in other Departments about how we might address that. To progress this, I have decided to engage a facilitator, Mr. Kieran Mulvey, to work with the seafood representative group to identify and articulate issues, priorities and opportunities for the sector. These will be considered when I am setting out the terms of reference of that fisheries sector strategy which was identified and promised in the programme for Government.

I have a couple of topical issues that I should update the House on today. Senators are familiar with the extension of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement, TCA. As Members are aware, the adjustment period set out in the original TCA was to run from 1 January 2021 to 30 June 2026. During this time, the TCA provided that EU and UK fishing vessels would have reciprocal access to each other’s waters. After 30 June 2026, the TCA provided that access would be granted at a level and on conditions determined in the annual consultations. We have always known from the fishing sector that it was going to be extraordinarily difficult to try to deal with issues like this in isolation. Our sense was, based on information which was coming from back channels, that the British were not prepared to continue to provide the same reciprocal access without the trade of more quota. We made it clear at the time that was something we would not countenance. We were still not sure how we might be able to negotiate or navigate that because we had nothing and no chips to play. Ireland’s perspective was, given the number of fish stocks shared between the EU and UK, which is more than 80 stocks, it would not be feasible to negotiate and agree on access to waters and quotas on an annual basis, even though that was set out in the original TCA. This kind of arm wrestle on access to EU waters every year simply would not provide our fishermen and women with the certainty they need to sustain their businesses. Against that backdrop, it was essential for Ireland to obtain the longest possible extension of access arrangements for UK waters, and to avoid the prospect of any further transfers in quota from the EU to the UK in exchange for these accesses. I have a couple of more points if the Acting Chairperson can give me more time.