Inshore Fisheries
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-29
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Timmy Dooley (FF), Clare

I am very conscious of the impact the small inshore fishermen and fisherwomen have on their communities. Sometimes it is just a living for their own families, but it is also part of the cultural life of some of these little villages and hamlets along our coast that many people take the opportunity to visit as part of their getaways from the larger cities, a tourism component. At the heart of it, however, are the people who are struggling to survive. As regards the loss involved, there are other opportunities. They could probably leave and get other jobs more easily, but that would be a huge drain and a loss to the communities involved in terms of the cultural and historical dimension, and it would suck the life out of those communities. We have a responsibility to address that. I heard some statistics on the news earlier about the population drain in certain rural areas, including a few in Donegal, where some schools are down to having maybe just two or three students now. We have to address that aspect of this as well insofar as we can.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-29