I know the Minister of State is doing his best, but it does not take a genius to recognise that the fisheries of Ireland have been sold down the swanny. The latest cuts to Irish fishing quotas constitute the straw that will break the camel's back. With a massive cut of 57,000 tonnes, estimated to be valued at €94 million, and an overall loss of €200 million to the industry, how can the fishing sector and small coastal communities survive this huge drop in income and the loss of jobs that will directly follow? Irish fishers need the Government to create a suite of financial supports as a matter of urgency. Why is the Government not mounting a legal challenge to the blocking of the Hague preferences and referring the matter to the European Court of Justice? The Hague preferences agreements have stood for over 50 years. They bona fide agreements under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. As mentioned before, big five companies are monopolising and making millions from our waters by means of the use of trawlers measuring between 80 m and 145 m in length. Some of these vessels are capable of catching 400 tonnes of fish a day. The companies involved have a combined fleet of approximately 230 of these vessels and roughly 400 subsidiaries worldwide. If that is not market dominance, then nothing is. Surely the Minister of State must have the power to summon the Commissioner, on behalf of the people, to challenge the activities of such oligarchs under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Article 101 of which prohibits anti-competitive cartels from fixing market sharing. Article 102, the anti-monopoly rule, of the treaty prohibits companies with a dominant position from abusing it to the detriment of competition or consumers. Under the mergers regulation, No. 139/2004, the EU Commissioner can review or block mergers that impede competition and strengthen dominant players in the market. These are some of the tools the Minister of State can and must use to save our fishing and coastal communities. My county of Wexford has many such communities, like those in Wexford Harbour, Kilmore, Rosslare, Slade and Duncannon, which represent hundreds of years of fishing traditions. The Minister of State must listen to the fishing industry and the Seafood Ireland Alliance and implement the fishing industry's eight-point plan to avoid the collapse of our country's fishing and marine industries before we sell off enough of Ireland to be but strangers in it.

Sentiment score: 0.08