The problem is that we are one year on and what is happening is absolutely outrageous. I do not believe, for example, that the French President, Emmanuel Macron, would tolerate his fishermen being treated like this. We saw his response to the British Government when it pushed the boat in that scenario. It is astonishing that, one year on, I am getting exactly the same response from the Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs as we got a year ago. Internationally, the British claim on Rockall is not accepted. …

We are one year on. I warned the Minister last year when he passed legislation that formally accepted Britain's claim over the Rockall area, which is exactly what it did, that he was strengthening the British case to block our fishermen. I watched him and the Minister for Foreign Affairs shaking their heads. Here we are, all this time later, and we still have an outrageous scenario whereby Irish fishermen are blocked from fishing in their traditional fishing grounds around Rockall, costing us millions of euro. The …

That is incorrect.

For God's sake.

There is no response to the mica issue.

They are not agreed.

We have another report from the Police Ombudsman in the North and it makes for devastating reading. It details how eight RUC special branch agents were involved with 27 murders and attempted murders, and this follows so close on the report on Operation Greenwich, which also dealt with an elected representative from Donegal. The findings there are devastating. There is plenty of time in the schedule this week so could we have a dedicated debate in this Chamber on those two ombudsman reports? Could we have a substant…

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

We have had many exchanges with the Minister about this. He knows the history of it. When he was the Fianna Fáil spokesperson on agriculture, food and the marine, his colleague, Pat the Cope Gallagher, the then Fianna Fáil spokesperson on the marine and fisheries, moved an annulment of the statutory instrument from 2018 and for the first time in the history of the State, a statutory instrument was annulled. That is how strongly Pat the Cope Gallagher, former Leas-Cheann Comhairle of this House, felt about the issue…

The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, invited me to read into the record some parts of a speech that he delivered, so I will read it into the record now. In the annulment motion tabled by his colleague, former Deputy Pat The Cope Gallagher, he stated: We need to take on board the needs of the fishing sector. We need to avoid the possibility of it being struck down in the courts again. The Department's track record in introducing a penalty-points regime has been poor. Given that on two occasions attempted statutory inst…

Who did I name? The Minister accused me of personalising it. Who did I name?

Tell me who I named. The Minister said that I personalise the issue. Who did I name? Did I name any official in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine or the SFPA? I did now what the Minister did back then. I believe that the Minister knows in his heart, as Deputy Danny Healy-Rae said, that this is wrong. It is my job as a spokesperson on fisheries and the marine to read The Fishing Daily , the Marine Times and The Skipper . Those are the voices of fishermen. Is the Minister seriously telling me that he…

I will not take accusations from the Minister and I refute what he said. If the Minister goes ahead with this tonight, he will demonstrate that he is not listening to the fishing community and that he is out of touch with them.

I am pressing the amendment.

I referred earlier to The Fishing Daily , Marine Times and The Skipper . It is my job and that of the Minister to read those publications every time they come out to educate ourselves on the issues affecting fishing communities. If he had done that, he would not have made the assertion he made earlier that he has never heard of those publications criticising the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine or the SFPA. That was an astonishing statement. I can tell the Minister that, from talking to fishermen up a…

That comment should be withdrawn.

It is shameful.

The Taoiseach made a very provocative statement, in fairness. It was an outrageous statement. What does the Ceann Comhairle expect us to do?

The Operation Greenwich investigation and the report that flows from it, which was made public by the police ombudsman in the North, are absolutely damning. If the Minister has not read through the report, I ask that he do so. I will focus on one individual identified as "Person K". When one reads through the report, it is absolutely astonishing that Person K was never brought to justice for that person's central involvement in at least 17 murders and seven attempted murders. Deputy Brendan Smith referred to a numb…

The Taoiseach knows the urgency of the situation for the families living in crumbling homes in Donegal, Mayo and the west. The problem and the difficulty is that, following a briefing from a senior Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government official with members of Donegal County Council, it has now been suggested it could be as late as September before this scheme is operational. This is seriously urgent. These families have waited for so long. We have had two years of the discredited so-called 90% schem…