Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming in to take questions and answers. It might be a surprise to people watching at home but we do not normally get the chance to do the back and forth, which is kind of shocking in itself but I thank the Minister for doing it today. It is great to be able to actually put the questions to a Minister and get the answers.

I also want to thank the Minister for recognising the organisations and making them producer organisations. That is hugely valuable for decision-making. Having more representation at those decision-making tables was a really important move. I also welcome the fact that he has opened the consultation on the ban of vessels over 18 m from trawling within 6 miles of the shore. It is five years later - a long time - and it is a shame it did not start sooner. Will he give us an outline of the timeline on that? One of issues I want to raise with the Minister may seem, in the grand scheme of things not the most significant, but actually it is significant in the grand scheme of the sector because what we have is two distinctly different parts of the sector and the inshore sector practices a really sustainable type of fishing. Not only does it do that and provide local restaurants, shops and farmers markets and all of those places with really amazing fresh produce, it is also the type of fishing we really need to get behind and support because it is more sustainable, does not damage our marine ecosystems in that way and there are all of these huge benefits to it. Added to those is employment in local areas. Therefore, supporting that sector is really important.

One of issues I always come across in my constituency of Cork South-West is the need for basic infrastructure at small piers and harbours. It was great to have the Brexit BALAMI funding last year. Many small works were done such as handrails, tow rails, extension of car parks and storage areas and all of those things were absolutely brilliant. The Minister knows himself that to do any kind of works out from the land needs a foreshore licence. This is a particular bugbear of mine related to the foreshore licensing system. We often hear the view that "these environmental polices are wrecking rural Ireland" and I find that kind of narrative particularly annoying because the fishing and farming sectors will be the first to be affected by the consequences of climate change. Then we have polices like this. A group of inshore fishers who are practising the most sustainable type of fishing cannot get, for example, the extension of a slipway the distance between the Minister and myself in this Chamber, to be able to lift the pots on and off the boats as otherwise they are pulling them up from a sheer drop at the end of the pier and simultaneously they see it taking five years to ban large vessels from sweeping up all of the stock in that area. How is this protecting the environment that minor works to an area with sustainable jobs and sustainable fishing cannot be done? It is really frustrating for people and results in that feeling that these policies from the environment are "wrecking rural Ireland". We need to take that climate action and I am all for having the areas where we protect the stocks but it is utterly ridiculous that those minor works cannot be carried out to an area that desperately needs it to support employment and support that type of fishing we all need to get behind. Can the licensing system be examined? When it was introduced in other countries, they introduced it because they too thought they needed to protect their marine environment but they did it from maybe 100 m out from the shoreline. This would mean for those basic infrastructure, people would not have to go through a lengthy, massively expensive process with the local authority just to do something basic like that and ultimately the marine environment in that area was still being protected, even though it did not seem to stop the numbers of vessels over 18 m from trawling.

Will the Minister answer that question first and I will come back in then on the quotas?

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