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.