asked the Minister for Lands and Fisheries if he is aware of the present precarious condition of the sea fisheries of the Saorstát seeing that now only 12,055 men and 3,437 boats are engaged in fishing as against 14,619 men and 4,405 boats in 1925 and seeing that the value of the fish landed has declined in value from £413,236 in 1925 to £188,736 in 1931; and whether realising the seriousness of this situation he will take immediate steps to bring in the Bill promised last June to afford more adequate protection against foreign trawlers, and at the same time endeavour by mutual arrangement to have the limit for steam trawlers fixed at six miles (at least) instead of three.
Ceisteanna—Questions Oral Answers. - Protection of Saorstát Fisheries.
The Bill in question is under consideration, but at present I cannot indicate the date on which it will be introduced. There is not, I am afraid, any immediate prospect of obtaining such an arrangement as is suggested in the latter part of the question.
Arising out of the Minister's answer, I want to ask is he aware that that Bill has been under consideration now for nearly three years and that not once but four times in this House an answer in almost precisely the same terms has been given and yet the trawlers continue to increase and multiply?