: When speaking last evening I was urging the Minister as strongly as possible to give us a clear indication as to whether the legislation he has promised would be enacted and implemented before we adjourned for the summer recess. As usual the Minister was non-committal and said the matter was one for the Houses of the Oireachtas. However, I am pleased to learn that a Bill was introduced in the Seanad today.
It is a pity that the Minister did not publish that Bill yesterday or this morning. It is a pity that it was not available for our spokesman, Deputy Deasy, when he introduced our Bill. We feel strongly about this issue. The Minister should give us an assurance that this legislation will be passed before the summer recess. He is a very astute man and he has seen the three Deputies who have contributed from this side, Deputies Deasy, O'Keeffe and myself—Waterford, Cork and Kerry. It is a well known fact, as Deputy Deasy pointed out, that our corvettes are monitored by the Spanish so that when a corvette makes a capture the other Spanish trawlers zoom in and plunder our fishing grounds. Our stocks are being depleted dramatically.
I am speaking in the dark because the Minister's Bill is ready to float but we have not had an opportunity of studying it. The problem that is bothering me, and a lot of other well-intentioned Members, is the question of penalties for Irish fishermen under the Bill. I should like to know if the Minister has had consultations with the fishermen's organisations when he was drafting this Bill. There is no comparison between the type of people who own trawlers in Spain and those who own trawlers here. It is well known that a fisherman caught with a salmon on his deck is liable to a bigger penalty than the skipper of a Spanish trawler. In his sense of justice the Minister should make a special case with regard to Irish fishermen. I make that statement unaware if the Minister has met representatives of the fishermen. I hope the Minister will accept that suggestion in the spirit intended.
It is a remarkable coincidence that the Minister's legislation surfaced this week in view of the fact that we had a vice-President of the European Commission, Mr. Gundelach, here recently. Did the Minister have any consultations with Mr. Gundelach about this legislation? This is a delicate area because the legislation will hurt Mr. Gundelach's friends, the people who have taken away our 50 miles. Has the Minister compromised his position so much with Europeans that he has left the Irish fishermen groping? It was ridiculous to read in a press report that £80,000 would be spent on a survey on fisheries. That amount of money would not build a small pier. That is the reality of the situation. Three acres of land in Dublin would cost £80,000. Mr. Gundelach did not make the long journey to Ireland to announce that he was giving us £40,000—I am sure we will have to put up £40,000 for this survey. Mr. Gundelach was on another mission and I should like to know what one? Was it this legislation? If that is the case was the legislation watered down to suit the Europeans? If the Minister's legislation is to be implemented there are other areas that will have to be immensely improved. I want to specify one area, Valentia railway station.