Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses from Iasc Mara Teoranta and thank them for their presentation. What is at issue is that the big guy should not be able to do this, if the rules are implemented in the way the rules are supposed to be. Clearly that is the problem. What the Department is saying in its mission statement is that this should not happen, that the rules state it should not happen. Yet it is happening. It is a very basic principal and we must hold the Department to account. On the broader issue, most people are clearly of the view that the problem we have in the fishing industry is around the distribution of the quota system. The system needs to be overhauled following a review.

Brexit will also impact on it as well. The problem that Mr. Groonell highlighted to the committee is uniquely internal to the Irish fleet. Normally we are considering problems created by foreign factory ships and boats taking a huge amount of our resource. We should be able to do something fairly swiftly and with a level of success if we put our minds to it. In truth, the Department simply has to come up to the mark and do what it states on the tin. The Department has to do what it is supposed to do. The sooner we can get to that point the better.