Manus Boyle (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I thank all my fellow Senators, cross-party. When the Minister of State is going to Europe, he knows there is one united voice behind the fishing industry in Ireland. It is important that we get a deal for our fishermen. For far too long, as a fellow Senator said, we have been the poor relation at the table. It is time that we got a good deal for Ireland and stood up for our people.

A fellow Senator said it is a bit too late. Maybe it is. I do not know. I started on his journey four years ago when we were sitting in a canteen and a couple of my men asked me what I was going to do about it, because nobody was doing anything. We were loading a freezer boat that day and I was asking myself what we could do. I met my father on the pier and said to him that the boys were in bad humour because nothing was being done. Senator Blaney knows him well. He said to me, "Manus, one thing you have to do is stand up for things that you think are wrong." That evening, I decided to call a meeting in Killybegs. That was a Thursday evening. On a Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock, we had more than 300 people in the Tara Hotel. I wanted to take a stand for what is right. The fishing industry has been decimated for years upon years. Nobody cared.

When I first came to this House four years ago, it was very hard to even get a meeting. In fairness to the then Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, he was the only one who opened the door. I spent weeks coming here, along with fish processors and everything, trying to get meetings, but in fairness to him, he took a lead on it. I must credit the now Tánaiste, Simon Harris. Since the minute he rang me, he has given me 100% support for the fishing industry. We need that. We really do, because we got so many bad deals over the years.

As the Minister of State said, Brexit introduced a cut of 26%. It beggars belief how we could give away so much to other countries. The nearest only gives 6%. Ireland was done over with that. We all heard in Killybegs at that time that we should not worry about it because burden-sharing was coming and it would be sorted. It was never sorted. We are only feeling it now in our ports. Standing on the pier, you see the boats tied to the pier, and every other nation is fishing. It is hard for the Irish people to look at the ship automatic identification system, SIS, and see that there are Belgians, French, Spanish and Dutch off the Irish coast, fishing away, yet our boats are tied to the pier. Our coastal communities are decimated by it. We can talk to the inshore fishermen. They are feeling the pain. So are the island fishermen, who are getting cut too. They really need support. I cannot understand how the EEC can let Norway come in and fish in exclusive economic zone waters, as the Minister of State said, without a contribution to Ireland. We got a deal a couple of years ago where we let them in for 150,000 tonnes and Ireland got 10,000 tonnes. I do not know who is doing the maths but there was a bad deal. That needs to be stopped.

The Minister of State, since the moment I met him, has said he would stand up for it and he is standing up, as is the whole Government, but we really need everybody to stand up. There are 17,000 jobs in the fishing industry. If we lost 17,000 jobs anywhere, it would leave an enormous hole. As the Minister of State said, the service industry has grown up around these places, in Killybegs, Castletown and Howth. They are all part of the industry, including net makers, engineering companies, hydraulic companies and boat builders. They all employ people. Those people's jobs will be in jeopardy. If they go, our communities will be decimated. In the eighties, Killybegs had a football team and it was top of the division. Now, we are struggling to get a team. We have a good team, in fairness, but compared with the eighties, when we were winning all around us, it is a big difference. You see the difference, even in the school numbers, because people are leaving. They are going to offshore wind farms and to Australia. They really have to because you cannot stay around.

At one time, the fishing industry would work in Killybegs from September to May. Now you are lucky if you get a month's work out of it. It is devastating for coastal communities. The Minister of State talked about the Tánaiste. We need to be looking down the road of Government supports if things go very wrong. It is the last thing any fisherman wants to hear or see. All we want is fish. We are happy if we get the quota and can fish away, but the Government has to look at supports down the line.

Finally, I wonder how to put this nicely. We really need to strengthen our hand in Brussels. It is one of the most important things. My colleague Senator O'Donovan was with me last time. It is important that we get a strong team there.