The Irish fishing industry and coastal communities are well-used to being the whipping boy over many years and much of this has been put on record. Taking the statement from the Seafood Ireland Alliance, it states that the EU Fisheries Council deal was "a betrayal of Ireland's fishing industry". One of the alliance members said that "the failure delivers a €94 million hit and threatens the survival of many Irish vessels and seafood businesses" and that "the consequences will be catastrophic". The alliance reports that the Irish fishing industry will have 57,000 tonnes less quota to fish in 2026 and is now at risk. It said over 2,300 jobs in costal communities face immediate danger and the wider impacts could reach €200 million loss next year. As another of its members stated: "Non-EU states ignored science and inflated their catches. They created this crisis. Ireland fished responsibly, yet we now carry what are proportionately the heaviest losses." Another said that "less quota means less fish and less work" and that "many plants may not survive this blow without raw material” while another stated that "we now have a situation when our fleet of fishing vessels are left with 28 tonnes of sole to catch in 2026 on the south coast of Ireland, when Belgium has 450 tonnes." The alliance statement concluded by saying: "Once again as in Brexit, Ireland has been left carrying a burden created by others. This is unjust and shows the European Union in a very bad light in its failure to protect the interests of small Member States." Deputy Conway-Walsh asked what the Minister of State is going to do. What we have here is abject failure. Whether I am talking about those who fish out of Dundalk or those in Clogherhead, we are looking at absolute disaster. This is ground zero and we need an answer. There has been abject failure by the European Union and the Government needs to stand up. At this point, these people's backs are to the wall and they need some element of support.

Sentiment score: -0.32