Fisheries Protection
Dail Éireann — 2025-05-20
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Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (SF), Donegal

I shared with the Minister of State my direct eyewitness account of the incredible level of oversight that the SFPA has of the industry. I witnessed in a fish factory in Killybegs CCTV cameras and access to the building at any time. Even that was not enough. I do not know of any industry where there would be cameras literally in the workplace every day, with images going directly from the factory floor to the regulator, and yet that is not enough. We have got to the point where it is out of control. I am reliably informed that this type of approach exists nowhere else in Europe. It impacts on the ability of the industry to attract boats to land and do business. Irish boats are going elsewhere because they do not face the same approach. This has to change. The approach that we have seen is over the top and not justified in any way, shape or form.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-05-20/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:53:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-05-20