Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)

I was at a meeting of the Committee on Parliamentary Privileges and Oversight and I left because I did not want to miss the opportunity to attend the Minister of State's first visit back to the Seanad. As a former Member, colleague and good friend in the previous Seanad, I want to welcome him and wish him the best of luck in his new role. I know the portfolio is in capable hands but it is a major role. It is a big job of work he has to do. I am fearful of repetition as I did not hear most of the debate. I compliment the Government's forward thinking in appointing Deputy Dooley as a stand-alone junior Minister for fisheries. Although I am from Kilbeggan, four miles from the dead centre of Ireland, by default I have been Fianna Fail's Seanad spokesperson on fisheries because it was lumped in with agriculture and food for two terms. I am delighted our Taoiseach and leader, Deputy Micheál Martin, appointed Senator Blaney, a Donegal man who has forgotten more about fisheries that I have ever known, as a separate spokesperson on fisheries, while I concentrate on agriculture and food. Fisheries has been the poor relation for too long. I am delighted it is getting the recognition, the input and the personnel working on it that it deserves. It is a big body of work.

Great progress was made in the EU-UK deal a couple of weeks ago. This has to be maintained. The Minister of State has a big body of work in Europe as we attempt to maintain our quotas. He also has to promote our processing. It is not just about the quotas we can catch; it is also about where they go and how they are processed. It is vital we maximise the most employment out of the sector. It is hard to believe that as an island nation we are not fish eaters. While we have a great record in promoting our produce around the world, thanks to Bord Bia, etc., I do not know if we are not up-to-speed when it comes to promoting it among ourselves. I would love to see more promotion of Irish fish products. We have to be among the worst island nations when it comes to eating fish. It is an area where more money could be invested in promoting our product in the home market.

The other big job the Minister of State will have over the lifetime of this Government, will be his work with the members of the seafood and offshore renewable energy working group. It is not going to be simple. We all know we need renewable energy. Those of us in the midlands are only to keen to push the wind turbines out to sea. While we want to save our barley fields and grass paddocks from wind turbines, I see the error of us promoting offshore development because the waters around Ireland are the barley fields and pastures of the fishermen. The Minister of State is left with the onerous task of trying to promote renewable energy, which needs to be done. However, squaring this circle should not be done at the expense of our fishing community. They are the points I wanted to make. I did not want to miss the Minister of State's first visit and my remarks are genuine.