Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-16
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Michael Collins (II), Cork South-West

Let us be honest: a task force is political theatre. It will not restore quotas, it will not save jobs and it will not undo the betrayal of last Friday. Ireland has been stripped of the Hague preferences, with our share cut to less than 9% while others walked away with 91%. That is piracy, not partnership. I met many trawler owners in Castletownbere on Sunday. They tell me that 30 articulated lorries come into Castletownbere every week and leave it with Irish fish out of Belgian, Spanish, French, UK and German trawlers. They are robbing our Irish fish in our Irish water and taking it into their countries while we stand idly by and accept this. I am not asking for another committee or report. Will the Government take this fight to the highest court possible? Will it challenge this corrupt decision by legal means or will it stand by while Dutch super-trawlers plunder our waters and Irish coastal communities are wiped off the map? Let us have no more excuses. Will the Government fight or will it surrender?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:28+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-16