Adjournment Debate. - Visit by EC Director General of Fisheries. – Dáil Éireann (26th Dáil) – Thursday, 31 Jan 1991

Adjournment Debate. - Visit by EC Director General of Fisheries.

Mr. Sheehan

I wish to thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me permission to raise on the Adjournment this very important matter in relation to the fishing industry off the south-west coast.

I have been led to believe that the EC Director General of Fisheries, José Amelia Serra, will visit this country on Monday and Tuesday, 4 and 5 February. I understand he will visit Killybegs and Dunmore East on Monday and Kilmore Quay and Howth on Tuesday and that he will travel by helicopter.

The EC Director General of Fisheries will visit this country on a fact-finding mission. I should like to ask the Minister for the Marine why Castletownbere fishery harbour has not been included in the Director General's itinerary. I consider this a slur on the hard-working fishermen in Castletownbere and on those along the south Kerry and south-west Cork coastline.

Numerous problems in the fishing industry in Castletownbere and along the south and west coast needed to be solved. I do not know who planned the Director General's itinerary but it is clearly evident that the person who planned it has no interest whatsoever in the plight of the fishermen along the south-west coast of Ireland. The rich fishing grounds off the south-west coast have been used for years by fishing pirates from other EC countries. Yet, no significant steps have been taken by the Irish Government to preserve those fishing grounds for Irish fishermen.

Many fishermen along the south and western coastline have applied for licences to purchase larger boats to enable them to follow the catch to deeper waters on the Continental Shelf and the Porcupine Basin. However, they have been told by the Minister for the Marine and his Department that no licences can be issued, not even for a ten ton boat, unless they also have another boat. I should like to ask the Minister for the Marine if the same condition applies to trawlers in Spain, France, Denmark, Germany and England. I do not believe it does.

In addition, large sums of money are needed to build a decent road between Castletownbere and Glengariff so that the fishing industry there can prosper and thrive. The drivers of the huge articulated lorries from the Continent that collect the raw material in Castletownbere and take it to the fish markets on the Continent find it very difficult to negotiate the narrow bridges on the road between Glengariff and Castletownbere.

These problems need to be spelled out to the Director General of Fisheries in the EC. He should be brought to Castletownbere so that he can see at first hand the difficulties being experienced by those involved in the fishing industry there. Instead of bringing the Director General on the autobahn from Dublin to Killybegs and from Kilmore Quay to Howth, I urge the Minister to bring him to Castletownbere, even by helicopter, in order that he can see at first hand the difficult conditions under which our fishermen labour. I urge the Minister for the Marine to include Castletownbere in the Director General's itinerary.

Minister of State at the Department of the Marine (Mr. Noonan,

Limerick West): May I first of all say how glad I am that the Director General has been able to make time in his busy schedule to come to Ireland with the express purpose of seeing the Irish fishing industry, both its success and its problems, on the ground. This type of fact-finding visit by the Director General can only be seen as a positive move in regard to the Irish fishing industry.

I welcome the visit and hope it is successful both from the Director General's point of view and from the point of view of the fishing industry here. I hope, in particular, that it will contribute to a greater understanding in Brussels of the problems and difficulties confronting our industry. This can only be to our benefit in the formulation of future EC policies for the fisheries sector.

As the Deputy has stated, the Director General will be in Ireland for only a very short period of time. He has requested that, in the time available he be given the opportunity to see at first hand as many aspects as possible of the Irish fishing industry, including the fleet, harbours and their facilities, ice plants, fish processing, aquaculture and research.

The Director General has asked that he be given the opportunity to meet with the representative organisations involved in the industry. Accordingly, he will be meeting with Bord Iascaigh Mhara; fishermen's and producer's organisations, including the Irish Fishermen's Organisation, the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation and the Irish Fish Producers Organisation; fish processing interests, including the Irish Fish Processors and Exporters Association; representatives of fisheries co-operatives, including the Irish Federation of Fishing Co-operatives; and representatives of the aquaculture industry, including the Irish Aquaculture Association, the Irish Salmon Growers Association and the Irish Shellfish Association. The programme selected by the Director General will enable him to achieve these objectives within the time constraints involved.

Unfortunately, it will not be possible for the Director General to visit all of the places which he would have liked to see, and indeed which I would have been anxious that he see at first hand. A much wider programme could only have been possible had the time involved been longer. The Deputy will appreciate that, apart from Castletownbere, there are a large number of other locations which the Director General would like to visit if time allowed but this simply will not be possible in the two days at his disposal.

I wish to assure the Deputy that the Director General will be made fully aware of the importance of Castletownbere and similar fishing ports in the context of the Irish industry and that he will be briefed on achievements made to date and future development plans.

Finally, I urge everybody involved in one way or another with the fishing industry to do everything necessary to ensure that the visit is a success for the Irish industry.

Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 31 Jan 1991