I want to speak first on the grave concerns in the fishing industry with the announcement of the new deal from the EU on fishing opportunities for 2026. The loss of 57,000 tonnes of quota will without doubt have a hugely detrimental impact on the over 2,300 jobs in the industry. The Seafood Ireland Alliance has said that it expects somewhere between a €100 million and €200 million loss in value for 2026. Those are staggering figures and will have caused great concern and distress for those working in the sector in recent days. The knock-on effects of this deal will be far-reaching for coastal towns and communities across Ireland. Much like agricultural industries in Ireland, the fisheries sector provides a platform for other sectors beyond its own. Local businesses, suppliers and restaurants will feel the effects of these changes. Costs of produce will increase, as will the cost of transportation and procuring stock. These costs will cause serious difficulties for small businesses and invariably, these increases will be passed on to consumers, and those working in the industry will see figures rise, while their wages continue to remain stagnant. News coming from the European Union about this deal and the proposed Mercosur does not provide much hope for communities that rely so much on the fisheries and agricultural sectors. When the ordinary worker in these industries and the consumer looks at these proposals, they can rightly wonder whether they are considered in any of the high-up decision-making processes. The Labour Party will work constructively with Government to advocate for a fair and equitable fisheries policy that prioritises the livelilhoods of Irish fishermen and fisherwomen and the sustainability of the Marine Institute. I want to take this opportunity to again raise the issue of the Blackwater fish kill. This was an ecological disaster on a scale we had never seen before in my home town. Anglers across the Munster region and I have little faith that this issue is being taken seriously by the State bodies involved. The River Blackwater was the scene of the greatest fish kill ever seen in this country. In excess of 40,000 fish were killed by a chemical irritant. This led to investigations by Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI, the EPA, Cork County Council and the Marine Institute. With all these State bodies and local authorities involved, not one had the optimum capacity or resources to identify the chemical. Therefore, the cause of responsibility for the kill has not been found. It is worth noting that although the source of the pollution is still unknown due to the lack of ability to identify the irritant, the North Cork Co-Operative Creamery in Kanturk came under scrutiny after the EPA published the results of a site inspection conducted on the night of the fish kill. The findings revealed that over 362,000 litres of wastewater were discharged into the river within a ten-hour window, with ammonia levels 52 times above the legal limits. Since then, the creamery has been made to suspend production, due to this and a consistent history of failure to achieve compliance with licensed-discharge conditions. This not just a Kanturk problem or a Cork problem. Issues of pollution must be rigorously investigated and stamped out right across this country. If we are serious about protecting our environment, rivers, fish and wildlife, then enforcement powers must be increased. Never once in this country was an EPA licence taken away. They must be withdrawn if constant pollution happens. We have had no sanctions or definitive answer for this and, to be frank, it makes a mockery of the idea that we have oversight. The bottom line is that we still do not know what killed upwards of 40,000 fish. This brings me on to Inland Fisheries Ireland. The programme for Government includes a clear commitment to carry out a full review of Inland Fisheries Ireland. This commitment must now be honoured in full and without further delay. This cannot be allowed to drift on while serious governance issues remain unresolved, complaints go unanswered and staff concerns continue to be raised internally and externally. I am sure the Minister, because he is the Minister, would have seen the meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts two weeks ago. As a member of that committee, it was deeply concerning for me to see basic governance and basic record-keeping were all found wanting. This was not a minor oversight. It was a serious, corporate governance failure. Following an answer to a parliamentary question from me last week, it emerged that seven separate investigations took place within IFI between 2021 and 2025. That is a significant number for an organisation of its size and should immediately raise alarm bells for the Minister and the Department. The issues I raised include the use of uninsured vehicles and the provision of false documentation to a staff member, which was in turn passed on to An Garda Síochána. These are not trivial matters. They point to a culture where rules are treated as optional and staff are placed in impossible positions because of management failures. The facts laid before the committee two weeks ago by IFI were absolutely shocking. A staff member of IFI was involved in a car crash in Donegal in August 2021. Following that accident, IFI provided that employee with insurance documentation which it later found out, on 16 November 2021, to be completely inaccurate. Despite knowing this, it failed to inform either the member of staff or An Garda Síochána that the documentation was false. It knowingly allowed a staff member to proceed with paperwork it knew to be invalid. The employee learned that the insurance documentation was invalid only when he received a solicitor's letter from the other party involved in the car crash. This is an appalling way to treat anyone and for anyone to learn that an employer has exposed them to legal and personal risk. The bottom line is clear. IFI knowingly failed to inform the Garda or its own staff member that a vehicle it had was uninsured. This is disgraceful and completely inexcusable. Workers should never have to endure such an ordeal. The hearing added even more troubling revelations. The acting chief executive told the committee before the meeting broke that he knew nothing of the findings of the external investigation commissioned by the former Minister, Eamon Ryan. Yet, after the break in the committee meeting, he acknowledged that he was in attendance at the February 2025 board meeting where those findings were presented. While the findings may not have been discussed in detail, he failed to disclose that he knew they had been received. It appeared he believed he could go through the entire committee meeting without acknowledging this. That is simply unacceptable. At the end of that committee meeting, the former and acting deputy CEO and now head of finance revealed that she had carried out a review of the report that IFI had received in February 2025. I call on the Minister of State to be brave with IFI. Let this be his legacy in the Department of fisheries. He must not let IFI continue in this vein. It has lost my support, it has lost the support of anglers and it has lost the support of the general public. IFI, as an organisation, needs to be disbanded and built up from the root again because it is a failed organisation. The Minister of State must not put in senior positions of IFI people who have been involved in controversy. This will be the legacy of IFI and of fisheries in this country. This is an opportunity for the Minister of State to get the confidence of anglers back because the confidence of anglers is not there. He must give IFI that opportunity now to build back up to being an organisation that can be trusted by members of the public. As I have said from the outset, the horizon right now does not look bright for those working in the fisheries sector or anglers or those who use our water. However, the Minister of State has the opportunity now to change that. I know he will because I know he wants to. He will do this because he knows that it will have a great effect on this country and on those who use our rivers.

Sentiment score: -0.05