As an interim measure, however, to ensure supplies for the processing factory operated by An Bord Iascaigh Mhara at Galway, it is necessary to permit landings of fish by foreign trawlers to supplement, rather than supplant, local catches to enable the factory to fulfil highly important export orders which have been secured and which will, it is hoped, be repeated. In view of these considerations, I have recently granted a licence under the Agricultural Products (Regulation of Imports) Act, 1938, enabling an externally-registered vessel to land its catches for the factory at Galway under conditions which ensure that all such landings of fish will be processed and re-exported and will not, therefore, adversely affect the interests of Irish fishermen.
The suggestion that An Bord Iascaigh Mhara refused fish at Galway because of alleged shortage of staff is not borne out by the information at my disposal. Fish occasionally had, however, been refused by the Board on grounds such as poor condition and unsuitability for processing. While the Galway fishermen were not specifically consulted about the present temporary importations, import of raw materials for re-export is a well-recognised industrial practice and I am fully satisfied that the best interests of Irish fishermen, which is my paramount consideration, are being served in the present case. Finally, I have no reason to believe that the landings in question constitute cut-throat competition for locally caught supplies.