Fishing Quotas: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-24
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Timmy Dooley (FF), Clare

I genuinely thank everybody who participated in the debate today. There will be differences between us politically and some will seek to make political points. I fully understand; I know how that works but they are here because they care about the various communities they represent which, some greater than others, have a stake in the fishing industry. There are other counties that do not. We even had Deputy Maxwell who is from an inland county but has an interest in it. I appreciate the level of engagement and debate and the genuine understanding of the challenges the sector is facing. There is a historical context to all of this which some are more familiar with than others. In relation to the establishment of the quota available to Ireland, some of it relates to our track record and history and when we joined the European Union. I know it is a burden on the minds of a lot of people who say we have fish in our waters, other people can fish them, why should we not be finishing them principally. When we entered the European Union our waters became a shared resource of the European Union. Somebody made the point and it is often made to me by members of my own family, how is it that Belgium with a relatively small coastline has such a fishing opportunity in Irish waters particularly the Irish Sea for monkfish and others? Your fishing effort in the past, historically, and your boats in the water prior to joining the Union had nothing to do with how much coastline you had; it was how those citizens established an opportunity and went out and fished. There is no correlation. Until you get into that conversation, it seems like, God, how did Ireland fall asleep at the wheel. Historically, there are countries with relatively small amounts of coastline who are mariners at heart and had been commercially fishing. They were explorers back in the day, etc.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:40+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-24