Last evening I stressed the need for an exclusive 50-mile zone. I adverted to the need for other important facilities in order to improve and preserve this industry, such as better landing facilities for fishermen, improved, modernised ice plants, fish plants, adequate and well-equipped trawlers capable of competing with the large ships of the EEC. I referred also to the need for a proper and enlightened conservation programme. I also stressed the need for a proper scheme of insurance for workers on our trawlers. The Minister indicated some semblance of support for that suggestion on which I trust he will act quickly, that is, an insurance and pension scheme for fishermen.
I also expressed the hope that the Minister and the Government would see the feasibility and wisdom of insisting, in so far as was possible, that all fish caught within the 50- to 200-mile zone would be processed here. Such would provide very valuable, much needed employment, moreover ensuring proper monitoring of fish catches with particular reference to the size and type of fish caught. These are some of the suggestions I make in order to further the interests of the industry and to bring back some semblance of security to those engaged in it.
Yesterday by way of parliamentary question I asked the Minister what steps he proposed to take to secure a 50-mile exclusive fishing limit around our coast and I asked for a statement on the matter. The typed statement the Minister deemed fit to make comprised three-and-a-half lines. It stated:
At EEC Council meetings and in bilateral discussions which I have had with the Fisheries Ministers from a number of member states I have pressed for an exclusive coastal zone of up to 50 miles for Irish fishermen and will continue to do so in future negotiations.
From any standpoint this reply was manifestly weak and unsatisfactory. It was weak in that there was a marked absence of commitment and determination to pursue this aim. If one is to judge from the stand taken by the EEC Commissioner, Mr. Gundelach, who spoke here last week one can but conclude that up to now the Minister's pressure has been an abject failure. Certainly it made no impression on Mr. Gundelach who made it patently clear that so far as he is concerned the 50-mile exclusive zone for Ireland is simply not on.
The most worrying aspect is that there was not even a whimper of protest from the Minister or the Government in respect of Mr. Gundelach's statement. If the Minister genuinely wanted to push our claim, why did he not avail of that unique opportunity of repudiating Mr. Gundelach's statement, asserting in a forthright way our claim to the 50-mile limit? One cannot be blamed for concluding that silence in the situation is acquiescence to the dictates of Mr. Gundelach and the EEC.
Last night I quoted from speeches made by Fianna Fáil members when they were in Opposition—many of them are now Ministers. I wish to put on the record of this House for the information of the country generally the stance of Fianna Fáil in Opposition, as set out in the statement in their general election manifesto. The manifesto in respect of fisheries states:
The Irish fishing industry has traditionally been a coastal activity and, accordingly, Fianna Fáil firmly believe that to protect the livelihood of our fishermen a 50-mile offshore limitation on foreign trawlers and factory ships is of urgent necessity.
All Ireland is waiting for the fulfilment of that promise. Let us see the Government retrieve the situation, let us see them retrieve their credibility, their honour and integrity. Doubtless so far as the Minister for Fisheries is concerned with regard to all these things they will prove to be no problem. We shall see.