Cathal Byrne (Fine Gael)

The Minister of State is most welcome to the Chamber. As this is our first official engagement with him, I wish him the best of luck in his new role. I am from Wexford, a coastal county with a rich tradition of fisheries. I invite him to visit County Wexford to meet with some of our fishing communities. As a member of Fine Gael in the Seanad, I wish to recognise the great work that is being done in this area by Senator Manus Boyle. I look forward to engaging with him over the coming term. While my own tradition is more in the farming sector, I am well aware of the frustrations that have been highlighted in this debate because they have been raised directly with me during my meetings with many fishermen over the past six years. Unfortunately the European Union has not been fully fair to Irish fishermen and fishing communities as regards to access to quota, the volume of fish we can access and what happens with it. We have a unique product in Ireland with our ability to instantly supply fresh fish to restaurants and directly to the market. We are blessed to be able to do that. However, when it comes to our waters, there is a feeling, which I am sure the Minister of State has been made aware of, that we simply are not getting our fair share of access to the fish located off our coasts. I recognise the comments made on Rockall. I firmly support the Government's position, which does not recognise the British territorial claim on that island. I also commend the Minister of State on including it in his contribution. When there is an attempted annexation, such as the one that occurred in 1955, and the insistence by the Government that it does not recognise the UK's territorial claims on this rock off the coast of Scotland, it is important that it continues to be discussed in the Chamber. I wish to highlight Slade pier, a key pier in Wexford, which was first raised with me last October. It is a small pier. While the local fisher community is not as large as it once it, its members have highlighted to me the direct need for grant intervention to carry out renovation upgrade works that would allow for greater fishing from that harbour. Perhaps it is something that the Minister of State will engage with me and officials from Wexford County Council over the coming months.