Hear, hear.

Sentiment score: 0.00

The Minister of State does not need me to tell him that 2,300 jobs, at a conservative estimate, in our coastal communities are in jeopardy because of the quota deal reached in December 2025. The wider economic hit could reach €200 million. In ports like Dunmore East in my home county of Waterford, families are asking whether there is a future for them and their industry. When you step back and look at the decisions and attitudes of successive governments, their actions and, more critically, their inaction, it is impossible not to arrive at a conclusion that what we are witnessing now is the outworking of a managed decline and a slow, steady concentration and then reduction of our indigenous fishing industry. It is the hollowing out, decade after decade, of a noble, sustainable and economically vital way of life. What do we get then? We get acquiescence, silence and hand-wringing. We get Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael politicians offering tea and sympathy, promising to listen but failing to hear, saying something must be done while steadfastly refusing to do anything that would actually arrest that decline. Now, on this side of the House, the industry advocates for coastal communities are reduced to calling for life support. Even that is delayed, negotiated and made contingent. Irish fishermen have abided by the rules. They have tied up their vessels when they have been asked. They have taken the quota cuts on the chin. They have invested in sustainability. Meanwhile, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Poland moved to block the invocation of our Hague preferences, protecting their interests and the interests of a number of corporations while ours were exposed. Did the Government even take legal advice on challenging this? That is an important question that has to be put. Was legal advice sought on challenging this? In advance of the December negotiations, I raised this directly with the Taoiseach and urged him to intervene, as Head of Government, at that level with other Heads of Government with national delegations. Freedom of information records show he did precisely nothing. He met with the industry but did not lift the phone. Decades of deflection reached their pinnacle in the political abandonment of the Minister of State, his negotiating team and officials and our fleet and coastal communities by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste in December last year. Other member states fight hard for their fleets. Their Heads of Government pick up the phone, build those alliances and draw red lines but in Ireland, the Head of Government sat on his hands. Let us take one example. Belgium can catch 450 tonnes of sole in Irish waters but the entire Irish fleet is left with just 28 tonnes. Belgium has less than half the coastline of Waterford but it has 450 tonnes of sole in Irish waters, while the Irish fishing fleet is left with just 28 tonnes. This is a recurring pattern across fisheries. It affects mackerel, prawns and other key stocks. This is not just about conservation. Conservation matters and is critical. Stocks must be protected and science must guide us but it is not a conservation crisis alone. It is about fair access and sovereignty. When our State provides some of the richest fishing waters in Europe but repeatedly sees its own fleets marginalised, people are entitled to ask serious questions. There are plenty of fish in our waters to sustain our industry and meet our conservation objectives but we are not doing that. There cannot be any return to business as usual. An already fragile industry has been placed on a fatal course unless there is a radical reset in Ireland and in how we approach fisheries policy at European level. The Minister of State knows I come from a coastal community and county. I represent communities where fishing is not just an item or economic activity but a living tradition. Families in Dunmore East, Helvick, Passage East, Bunmahon and all along our coast have given generations to this industry. It is skilled, dangerous and honest work that underpins processors, hauliers, chandlers and small local businesses right across the south east. It is now dangerously close to the point of no return; some would argue it is long past that. That is why we need urgent action. The task force the Minister of State has established should have been established before now. While we welcome that it is finally in place, it must not become just another talking shop. The terms of reference must reflect what the seafood sector has demanded and its recommendations must be acted on quickly. We need a commitment from the Government that its recommendations will be taken seriously. The Minister of State will understand the cynicism of coastal communities and the industry. Every time they see a task force, punishment generally follows. We need adequate financial support for fishermen and seafood producers over the coming years. We also need a clear plan to secure a fair allocation of fish under the Common Fisheries Policy or we need to be done with it. We need to draw red lines and talk very seriously with our European partners about this. Crucially, and the Minister of State has heard us on this, we need to back our inshore sector. We support the demand by the National Inshore Fishermen's Association and others for income stabilisation and compensation schemes. It works in agriculture. We see farmers benefiting from similar schemes. We need to see something now as this industry is in crisis. For too long, we have this acquiescence, silence and hand-wringing. We need a new departure and we need it now.

Sentiment score: 0.01