Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State and compliment my Fine Gael colleagues on the motion. We are obviously supporting it.

I live in a place called Kilbeggan and you cannot get any more central in the country than there. Yet, having said that, traffic permitting and without breaking the speed limit, I can be on the west coast or the east coast in an hour and 15 minutes maximum. If you were that close to a coast in many other countries, you would say you lived on the coast. I can never figure out why we do not eat more fish as an island nation. A big part of the Minister of State's work going forward would be to promote the produce of our fishermen and fisherwomen on our own island. We need to evolve into fish eaters. That would go halfway to solving the problems.

There are many problems there. The Minister of State has inherited a bit of a minefield. I note the Council meeting that is coming up. Our total allowed catch would be a lot less if it was not for the Hague preferences and I know there is pressure being put on by the French and Dutch, in particular, that the Hague preferences might not kick in on this occasion. That is something that must be fought hard against.

As an inland beef farmer, the fishermen saved the day when it came to Brexit. That has to be recognised and acknowledged by other sectors. The Government could and should allocate a little bit more of our own funding towards the sector. That could and should be explained to the other sectors, even if it was a little bit of robbing Peter to pay Paul. I will not be thanked by the people in my own sector for saying what I am saying, but the fishermen and fisherwomen saved the day. Brexit would have wiped a lot of other sectors off the map. The sacrifice was made by the fishing sector. It would be appropriate they would get rewarded for that.

I would like to see a scheme for fishermen, and the inshore fishermen and fisherwomen in particular, that is similar to TAMS in the other agricultural sectors. Senator Boyle said it. There are schemes there at the moment. I know the Minister of State is tied on this somewhat by state aid rules and the de minimis rules and all of that, but to modify an old boat for safety reasons can sometimes be a fruitless exercise. It could be a lot more profitable, going forward, to actually replace the whole boat and get a new rig as opposed to trying to make changes on an ongoing basis to outdated equipment. I would like to see a scheme for fishermen and fisherwomen, similar to TAMS in the other agricultural sectors, where there would be grant aid available for upgrading their equipment.

I know the Minister of State has met the Commissioner on numerous occasions and I hope in the battle - it is a battle - that the Minister of State really goes hard on the third countries. The problem is our fishermen live by the book. They live by the rules that are set by Europe and they fish with biology and security in mind. They keep to the allowable catches. It is so frustrating, even for the likes of me watching from a distance, to see third country boats coming in and robbing our waters. They are decimating the stock for the future. It is not just about what they take out on any given day. It is the consequences of their actions going forward for the numbers that will be available for the people who are sticking to the rules. I do not know how the Minister of State can do it and it is a new Ministry but that will be one of the big tasks for him, going forward, to take control of the situation with what we call third countries.

That is enough of a wish list for the Minister of State. He has a battle on his hands but I know him of old. If I was in a bit of scrap, there is no one I would like better to have on my shoulder than Timmy Dooley so I have no doubt he will fight the good fight. It needs to be fought. The next Council will determine fishing in this country for a long time to come.