Timmy Dooley

As the Deputy knows, European beneficial ownership laws apply across economic sectors, including the seafood sector. I understand a package of new EU anti-money laundering rules, including rules in relation to beneficial ownership, was adopted as recently as 2024. The Common Fisheries Policy, CFP, basic regulation does not specify requirements regarding ownership of vessels, other than providing t…

I will try to keep to the time. I thank the Deputy for that clarification. I am fully aware of the concerns expressed by fishermen about the capacity of large corporations that have bought up quota from other member states that chose to privatise their quota. We have protected our quota in the interest of coastal communities. There is an ongoing evaluation of the CFP, which is expected to be publ…

The issue is a little broader than what the Deputy has presented. There is a suggestion that somehow these corporations do better than us in quota negotiations but, in fact, they do not. Quotas are based on track record. If the quota goes down based on scientific advice, each country loses a share based on that species. I wanted to correct that point. Where there is an issue, and it speaks to the…

As the Deputy may be aware, our Department operates and maintains six designated State-owned fishery harbour centres, located at Castletownbere, Dingle, Dunmore East, Howth, Killybegs and Ros an Mhíl in her own constituency. Additionally, our Department has responsibility for the upkeep and maintenance of north harbour at Cape Clear, as well as the maintenance of a small number of specific piers, …

That is an issue right around the coastline. The funding we provide to local authorities is relatively small, and an input is required from them. It is really only suitable for minor upgrade works. I am conscious that there are others, including Cleggan and a number of others that Deputies from Deputy Farrell’s constituency and elsewhere have been in touch with me about . That scheme does not meet…

I fully get that. I saw in the case of Connemara where part of Cleggan is owned by our Department and part by the local authority. There was a comprehensive plan there which was probably too large in scale. While everyone liked it, nobody was able to come up with the comprehensive amount of money. I have suggested to them that they might look at a slimmed down version and we can see how we manage …

The oil companies will put it up again.

The oil companies will put it up again.

I thank the Minister, Deputy Heydon, for his continued support and the full stretch of his Department, in particular, in the area of marine and fisheries. As the Minister indicated, the most significant element of the reduction in fishing quotas for 2026 is the reduction in the mackerel quota. It has had a very significant impact, not just on the catching sector but also on the processing sector …

I genuinely thank everybody who participated in the debate today. There will be differences between us politically and some will seek to make political points. I fully understand; I know how that works but they are here because they care about the various communities they represent which, some greater than others, have a stake in the fishing industry. There are other counties that do not. We even …

We could be here a long time if we got into that. They were ahead of the game in establishing their fishing rights and they were grandfathered in to the agreements that came. We are working off the back foot. When we joined the European Union our sector was very small and underdeveloped. It has done well. Some really great ingenuity went into it around the coastline in particular the pelagics and …

They might learn something. If they stay quiet they might learn the complex issue.

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach.

The Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, and I cut our teeth in student politics 35 years ago. I learned a lesson back then and it is equally worthy today. Never be speaking after him, because you will certainly not outdo his capacity to hold an audience and hold people to account. I do not bear any ill will against Sinn Féin for taking an opportunity like this. Maybe we have all done it in opposi…

I grew up on a small farm in the west of Ireland. I know what survival is like. I know what difficulties and issues faced a farming community.

I do not mean this in any kind of an over-the-top way, but I do not need anyone in this House, from this side or the other, to lecture me about the struggles farming is facing.

Also, over that protracted period of time, I have come to see how successive governments have supported the farming sector and how it is a different place now from what it was 40, 45 or 50 years ago. I also know there is a much different approach now to marketing our beef abroad and that the integrated nature of the supply chain and the complexities of it are very different from the kind of abatto…

-----how the requirements of the customer are very different-----

-----and the way in which markets are provided for.

That is for another day, however. It is not for us.

I would expect that tomorrow, when he comes before the committee-----

-----Mr. Murrin will be well able to explain the complexities of the supply chain-----

-----and the complexities of meeting the demands and needs of a changing marketplace. It is not all about carcasses moving to and fro. We have heard about the remarkable growth in the value of agrifood exports over the last decade and more from an export value of €10 billion in 2011 to an estimated €21 billion in 2025. That figure is a truly a record. Our export destinations are well balanced bet…

Farmers talk to me regularly about the exactness and complexity of these standards and the challenges they present. If the people at the top of Bord Bia were to exit, those very standards would be questioned in third countries, markets outside of Ireland.

While we might think we would have a handle on this debate and know what was going on, we do not know how it would be translated-----