Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Young Muireann Kavanagh has shown the Minister up for what he is. He is the person with hot air. He should tell the truth to the Dáil now. The only time he reached out to Muireann Kavanagh was after she went out on the media - that very morning. That is the reality. She wrote to him twice. A young 14 year old fisher woman from the island of Arranmore watches from her bedroom as the supertankers sweep up fish and the Minister prevents her from fishing with a line. He will not carry out the reassessment we want of the evidence for the closure of that area. He will not allow for a heritage licence. His Government has blocked legislation that we put forward in that regard. Let us call a spade a spade. The Minister is the one who is blocking this.

Let us move to Magheraroarty. Only one thing is stopping this. The Minister talks about need. The need is there. The boat is there. Young fishermen are fishing from there. The infrastructure is there. The only person who is standing in their way as they seek to land fish in the community where they were born and raised, and which they want to support, is the Minister. He is deciding not to put pen to paper to designate that pier as a landing pier for UK-registered vessels. He says he is doing this because the resources are not there. That vessel will have to notify the SFPA when it is coming onto shore. It is not that it will be on shore every single day. The Minister has decided to put his face against the idea of them travelling a couple of extra miles because he just does not understand what is happening in his own community. There is absolutely no reason for him to do it.

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