I stand before the Minister of State again. I have raised this countless times with industry representatives and every week at the fisheries committee along with all of my colleagues from Donegal. This is the time for action. We all know the issues in the fishing industry and what we need to do to address them but the issue is will. There is no will from the Government regarding this. There is an absence of will and we are left with this debate - a fruitless attempt by the Government to demonstrate to the public that we are addressing the issue when, in fact, we gave up on the fishing industry decades ago. This is not a criticism of the Minister of State. He is genuinely doing his best, along with his staff. It is clear he cares about this industry. However, he has been given a poisoned chalice. This poisoned chalice has been given to him through decades of neglect by Government of the fishing industry. There is no doubt Government has allowed this decline to happen. It has been happening for generations. I have seen it where I am from - Árainn Mhór island - where my family fished. We had Burtonport, a thriving port that is now a ghost town. We allow other countries to do what they like and get away with it. There is no equality here. It is unbelievable when it is laid out. In 2010, Iceland and the Faroe Islands increased their mackerel quotas without consulting the countries which had shared interest in these stocks. In 2013, the Faroe Islands that increased its allowance of herring by 229%. In 2021, the Faroe Islands and Norway raised their mackerel quotas without agreement from the EU, despite the fact that Ireland is most reliant on mackerel. In 2020, following the Brexit trade co-operation agreement, 40% of the total value of the European quotas were transferred to the UK from Ireland. We let Europe sell this on our behalf. This is clear evidence that Ireland's negotiating power in this was incredibly weak. These are marine resources and they are worth a lot more than what we have given away. In 2024, the UK signed an agreement with Norway and the Faroe Islands, dividing 70% of the mackerel between them, again, without involving the EU. We can see a pattern emerging. Today's vessels from EU states as well as fleets from the southern hemisphere can fish bluefin tuna in our waters while Irish fishermen are forced to observe because Europe has not allowed us to access this stock. French and British vessels continue to fish for seabass on our doorstep while we have not been able to do this since the 1990s. The recent mackerel quota assigned to Irish fisheries represents yet another blatant injustice for our industry, as countries such as Norway, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and the UK have agreed a 40% higher allowance catch than the member states. Not only are countries not being penalised for overfishing, they are actually being rewarded for it. No matter how often we present these facts, they never fail to shock because it keeps getting worse. Our industry is clearly in decline. The Government keeps trying to operate within a framework that has never been designed with our interests in mind. It is a fact that we are at a disadvantage and are trying to please Europe above our own needs. It is clear that the policy holds us back, yet there seems to be no appetite to ensure this outdated policy is updated and our position is renegotiated. Instead, the Government keeps us trying to work within an unbalanced system that is meant to work for us but actually works against us. We need to wake up to this. We need to make sure we take accountability. The Government claims our fishing rights have been taken from us as if we are powerless. We are not powerless; we have surrendered those rights. We continue to take a weak negotiation stance. We cannot continue to do that. We must stand up and take back our waters. Will the Government and public representatives truly stand up and fight for the fishing industry? We have to stand up and fight. We have constituents up and down the land depending on us. Right now, we are not providing them with any cover for the future. The fishing industry is dying. Every single week it loses people. They are leaving. The Government cannot talk its way out of this, no matter how many debates we have on this issue. I want to bring this back to the fishing communities. Fishing communities are the heart of the debate, particularly in Donegal. These are the people impacted the most. I can confirm there is at least one trawler in Killybegs that finished up for the season last week. It finished up in mid-February. The boat is now tied up for the rest of the year. The fishermen are without work until the end of the year. Eight weeks of work is hardly what you would call a sustainable job. These are fishermen on some of the biggest trawlers in the country. Traditional small-scale fisheries are experiencing even more difficulty. They have significant cultural, social and community importance and must be supported financially. There is a very real need to reduce the special local draft net licence duty for Loughros estuary. I ask the Minister of State to please consider this. At present, a special local draft net licence is priced at €545, which €147 more than the cost of an ordinary drift net licence, despite a significantly shorter season and more limited fishing opportunities on the estuary. A reduction in the licence fee would be a practical measure to help sustain the fisheries while having minimal fiscal impact and sustaining a tradition that goes back many a generation. The special local drift net licence fee should be reduced before a 2026 season, in line with the ordinary drift net licence and in recognition of fewer fishing opportunities and a shorter season to apply to the estuary. I would be grateful if the Minister of State would come back to me regarding that. We need to support our fishers and the industry as a whole, and do the best we can. It takes an entire community to build a successful fishing industry, and entire communities will suffer as a result of its decline. The Government has to stand up. What is going on is a decline in the fishing industry up and down the country. I have seen it happen in my own island of Árainn Mhór in County Donegal, where we had a fishing industry that is no longer there. I am so worried this is going to happen to Killybegs, and all the way down to Castletownbere. The Minister of State will stand up and fight - I do believe that - but we have to take it to Europe that enough is enough. The Faroe Islands have been out of control for a long time. We have to stand up and say enough is enough.

Sentiment score: 0.06