Martin Kenny
Sligo-Leitrim · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“A debate here for a couple of hours is fine, but I remember being involved in some of the deep talks with people in the early days of the peace process. We sat in rooms and talked about reconciliation. I met Garret FitzGerald on many occasions at the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation.”
“Of course, we have the areas of natural constraint payments that most farmers on this side of the Border avail of. Unfortunately, those payments are no longer available in the North. Sinn Féin has recommended that the payments should be restored. Farmers need support. Brexit took their support away.”
“I welcome this debate. Such a debate has been needed for quite a long time. The reality is that for many people, the issue of the financial implications of Irish unity has been used as a put-down to try to smother or put a stop to argument and debate. This is a welcome way in which we can open that up.”
“I hope Government will reflect on that and recognise that we need to build a process. There is an energy for reunification among ordinary people the length and breadth of the country. This is about the physical constraints, but is also about identity. Many people who live on this island have a British identity.”
“As the Taoiseach is aware, for many years people with mental health issues have been attending emergency departments in our hospitals. Many of them get very poor outcomes. They experience long delays and end up on trolleys. Sometimes they are referred for short-term stays or to community services, which offer little or no service.”
“I appreciate all that and the farmers forum is a positive advancement on things, but we are back to the problem at the very core of this issue, which is that the chair of Bord Bia has been using imported beef from Brazil as part of his mix to sell product.”
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“I want to raise today the issue of St. Cecilia's School, Sligo. It is a special school that takes children with special educational needs up to the age of 18, and it is a lifeline for many children. However, we have been contacted by parents, many of them very frantic and frustrated because they are unable to get a place in the school. This is because the necessary funding cannot be sanctioned. I spoke to the principal of the school. She is very frustrated. It is the first time this has happened. There is a feeling that there is an attempt to try to get the children to go into special classes in mainstream schools, which would be totally inappropriate due to the severity of their disabilities and special needs.”
“This is one of the problems this Government has. Everything it does, all of the time, is to look after the well-connected rather than the people who elected them and who they should be looking after, up and down the length and breadth of this nation.”
“Probably for the last five or six years, every time we have met the university, it has asked, "Can you please lobby the Government so that we can have the right to borrow money to build the houses so we can have them into the future and we can rent them out to the students?" It would be an income source for the university. Last week, the Minister announced that there is going to be a public private partnership. A private corporation or company is going to come in and build those houses, rent them out to the students and make the money on them, with land owned by the university. It is again back to this thing of providing an opportunity for the well-connected rather than providing something that would provide a piece of critical infrastructure for the people who need it, the students in that region and everywhere else.”
“People always say to me that when they educate their children, most of them will be getting jobs for graduates and a lot of those graduate jobs are elsewhere, not back in their own region. The main reason is that they do not have the infrastructure to get those jobs to move into the region. One example was presented to me the other day and when I saw it, I wondered what was wrong. We meet the Atlantic Technological University every year as part of our engagement with IBEC. The university has for years been looking for the Government to allow it to borrow money to build its own student accommodation on its own land. That is what it has looked to do.”
“Nobody can get a house to rent in Dublin, yet in other parts of the country where there is ample space and opportunity, there is no investment. That is what we need to get balanced right. We need to get proper rail and road infrastructure in the regions, we need to get proper investment into the regions, and we need to ensure we can do that by having investment from the Government. These are not costs the taxpayer will bear and are then gone forever. They are investments that will pay off dividends in the long run. This is why it is absolutely critical the Government recognises the need to provide the maximum amount of funding for key projects in areas where we have the most potential, particularly in areas in the north west, throughout the midlands and throughout the western seaboard where we have the same issues.”
“People attend the hospital for dialysis but again, the services in place are totally inadequate. Promises have been made but nothing has been delivered. We have serious problems with road infrastructure in my constituency and everywhere else. The problem seems to be that Governments continually look at where the crisis is rather than planning long term for the future, which is what needs to happen. We need a Government that will plan for the future and provide services and critical infrastructure for people in order that we have an economy that functions. Most of the west, including my part of the country, has the greatest potential because it has the least investment. The eastern seaboard is bursting at the seams.”
“It is a much bigger piece of infrastructure that could service a lot more people than those living within a narrow corridor around it. It is critical that that infrastructure is put in place. Health is another major issue. In Sligo University Hospital we have serious problems with overcrowding, insufficient bed numbers and the age of the infrastructure. The roof of the theatre for orthopaedics leaked last summer. When the roof was fixed it was then discovered there was another problem with the heating. For the past year, the theatre has been closed more often than it has been open. That is because that particular piece of infrastructure has aged out. It is not fit for purpose and needs to be built out anew. We have a similar problem with regard to renal services.”
“They cannot build because the infrastructure is not in place. One of the key pieces of infrastructure along the west coast is the western rail corridor. We have been talking for years about what can be done and the positive impact reopening that rail link from Sligo right down that corridor would have on the entire western seaboard. That project needs to be prioritised. Reports have been done but the problem with many of the reports on the western rail corridor is that they look at the issue in a very narrow way. When they check how many people would use the rail line, they use the number of people living within 5 km of the line. The rail line to Dublin goes past my house. Most people travel 30 or 40 miles to get to the railway.”
“The situation with regard to infrastructure around the country is poor, to say the least. In rural areas and the north west it is extremely poor. I will mention a few of the issues. The south Leitrim water scheme, which provides water for more than two thirds of the population of County Leitrim, is currently operating at more than 100% capacity. It is meant to operate at 80% capacity so there is little spare capacity, but it is operating at over 100%. If someone in the region looks for planning permission to build 100 houses, and one of the key infrastructural issues is housing, they cannot get a letter from Irish Water to say they will get water because the water is not available. That is just one example of a major infrastructural problem that is blocking progress and people having some chance of having a home to live in.”
“The Government needs to recognise that because there is a huge sense of people being frustrated and annoyed but also deeply disappointed. The vast majority of people I met on those protests were people who voted for the Government parties, not for us. Those people are absolutely gutted and cannot understand why the Government chose to turn its back on them in this way. It not only chose to turn its back on them and not listen to them, but to insult them and say it would bring the Army out and clear them out of the way. That smacks of something so high-handed that the Government really needs to have a hard look at itself, at the leadership of both parties and at the Independents supporting it. We need to recognise that we have a distance to go, but the Government has not gone that distance and what it has done here is too little, too late.”
“This conflict started out in the Gulf when Israel and America bombed Iran and all of a sudden the price of oil went up across the world. Of course the Government cannot control that, but it can control the taxes it takes on it. It can do something to help people. People simply could not understand and still cannot understand why it took so long for the Government to realise it had to actually sit up and listen. It took people blockading the whole country, coming out on the streets, marching around pushing babies in prams and asking the Government to please listen to them because they were suffering and needed help. The Government refused to listen. We are now in a situation where the Government comes with these measures, which are too little, too late. That is what most people feel.”
“The depth of disappointment was evident in people across the length and breadth of the country over the past week, and that developed into anger as time went on. People say the Government is out of touch, but for some reason, it seems to be choosing to be out of touch and to walk away and not listen to ordinary, decent people. People can throw up all sorts of stories that some of the protesters were this, that and the other, but the fact of the matter is the vast majority of people who went out to voice their concerns were hard-working people with their tractors or buses. They are people we all know in all of our communities and whom our communities depend upon. When you are stuck, they are the ones you turn to. These are the people who were so disappointed with Government.”
“That has changed in the past number of years and particularly in the past 12 to 18 months. I know from talking to my colleagues that many people across every constituency are experiencing the very same thing. There are delays and there is difficulty in accessing treatment and in getting diagnostics. When we talk to the clinicians and the hospitals, they tell us that staffing, medical equipment and facilities are all problems. All of these things need to be dealt with. While the Government's countermotion may suggest it is going to produce the answers, we are very doubtful it will.”
“After several weeks of my office trying to deal with the HSE, he was finally able to move ahead with his treatment but he and his family were extremely stressed because his brother had previously passed away from the same type of cancer he had been diagnosed with. Many people find themselves in that situation. The Minister of State has tabled an amendment to our motion that states how great everything is going but that is unfortunately not the experience of a great many people. That is very difficult to say because, in fairness, the HSE and the health service have traditionally provided a very good service, particularly when it comes to cancer care. Most people would say that, once you got into the system, you were treated fast, you were dealt with quickly and things progressed as you needed them to.”
“I thank Deputy Cullinane for bringing forward this motion this evening. The national cancer strategy is due to be reviewed. As has been evidenced by the Deputies who have spoken before me, while the targets that are set are very logical and would ensure that people get the treatment they need within an appropriate timeframe, in many cases, they are clearly not being met. That is not the case just in one place in the country but across the entire country. I know of a gentleman in my own constituency who had a cancer diagnosis. He was waiting for radiotherapy and contacted the hospital in Galway, which he has to travel to all the way from Leitrim, and was told he was on a waiting list.”
“We want to ensure that this is delivered, and that the families of those who tragically lost their lives in Omagh, the victims and the survivors, get a sense that this State is going to co-operate fully. That will put further pressure on the authorities in the North to ensure they also co-operate and provide the information that is required.”
“For instance, if a set of questions is put forward by the inquiry, and those questions are answered and then generate other questions, it has to go back over the same process again. Perhaps more space needs to be made for cross-examination, or if that is not the right term, then we must ensure there is a full means of assessing the outcome of a particular piece of information if it creates other questions. That can be done without having to revert to the beginning of the entire process. There needs to be a way of ensuring that can happen. It is one of the concerns that representatives of the families have regarding the legislation. In general, we are all on the same page.”
“In particular, the sovereign state, whether it is the British State or the Irish State, has a unique and central role in ensuring that full transparency is delivered to everybody in respect of that. While we, of course, want to see the full rigour of the inquiry brought to bear on all of this, it is probably a year since a memorandum of understanding was set in place, and we are now following through with this legislation. The Minister will have the full support of everyone in the Houses to deliver this and ensure it is in place before the inquiry comes back into session in September. I fully support what is being done here. All of us commend the families of the victims of Omagh, and the many other families who are also looking for justice and transparency in regard to all of this. There is some difficulty with part of the legislation.”
“As we in this State put processes in place to ensure there is an adequate and robust response to the request from the Omagh inquiry to get full and accurate information of everything this State knows about what happened with that atrocity, we also have to look at what the British state has done with regard to similar situations and how there has been a huge reluctance in the British state to provide information. The Dublin and Monaghan bombings were mentioned, and there are many other instances similar to that, where there are families who want to get answers, clarity and transparency as to what happened and how the circumstances came about where they lost their loved ones. All of us have a responsibility to try to do everything we possibly can to ensure that happens.”
“The families of those who lost their lives on that day and those who were injured deserve to get full co-operation from this State and from everyone involved that can possibly throw any light on this subject. At the time, I remember the RUC chief constable, Ronnie Flanagan, said he was putting a special task force in place to assist the local RUC to investigate the situation in Omagh. There are very many who doubt what the role of that was and how it was facilitated, if it actually assisted or if it was an obstacle in trying to resolve the situation and to have a full and complete investigation. However, we are where we are. We have a robust inquiry in place, and we have to ensure the State responds to it adequately.”
“Thankfully, the peace process was strong enough to withstand what happened in Omagh and the many other incidents similar to it. What we are dealing with here today is very clearly a situation where we need to ensure we get maximum co-operation from the State in every way possible. The Minister mentioned the process that is set out and how that process will work. He mentioned how there will be a judiciary overseeing all of this and that this will be done in a transparent and clear way. The Minister also mentioned that in section 5, there are some robust checks in regard to a possible non-acceptance of a request. I would hope that would not come to pass, and I am sure that is the Minister's position. I hope we would not see any prospect of any section of the State refusing to co-operate in any way with this process.”
“As the Minister is aware, we fully support what the legislation we are discussing here today is trying to achieve, which is to form a situation where the State can co-operate fully with the Omagh inquiry to ensure there is a complete transparency around what happened in Omagh. I remember that incident very well. In my home area of Cloone, County Leitrim, we were commemorating 200 years since the French came through it in 1798. There was a weekend of commemorative events but there was this shadow over it because of what happened in Omagh and the terrible tragedy of the many people who lost their lives in the most tragic of circumstances. At that time, we, as a society, were trying to move to a peaceful process and to move forward.”
“I support Deputy Stanley on this issue. It is obviously something that has taken up a huge amount of time and energy for everyone involved. It is positive we are at a stage where there is at least the bones of a resolution in place. The key issue is that people who are involved in State boards have a responsibility to adhere to the codes of conduct or practice that are in place. The review of all this will be short, hopefully. I welcome the Minister saying it would be concluded at the end of April. That would be ambitious. Farmers need reassurance that they will get additional and robust representation on any new board that is proposed, because that is one of the big issues. Without farmers, there would be no Bord Bia and no food to market anywhere. They see themselves as being very small players in all of this, however.”
“The bigger issue is how to get young people into farming and how to get them to make that decision to have a future in Irish agriculture. To do that, it must be profitable and vibrant. They must see it has a future and that it will be good for them in the long term and not just for the next year or two. It is very important that we get that part of it right. Again, the big part of this issue goes back to the budget. The Minister has not really dealt with that. What pressure is the Irish Government going to put on to ensure we maximise the budget for farmers in respect of all of this?”
“I accept that there is a proposed increase in the budget for generational renewal. The issue for many farmers is that, when programmes were put in place for them in the past, such as schemes to pension them off, these included an exclusion order. They could no longer have anything to do with the farm. They were out of it altogether and had to stay clear of it. That was a very bad proposal to put forward because the vast majority of these people, whether they are in their 60s, 70s or 80s, have farmed all their lives. They want to continue doing it until their last breath. They want to go out and feel they are an integral part of it. It is important that can be accommodated in any scheme that is brought forward.”
“What is a full-time farmer? What is the farm family? How is that put in place? I was concerned to see the Minister's colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, in the changes to the forestry programme, suggested that for people to get the forestry grants, they would only need to have one year of payments. That is opening the door for corporates, companies and all kinds of people to be allowed to buy land up and to compete with other farmers.”
“I thank the Minister. I appreciate we are at an early stage in negotiations and they have to take a route through all of this. The budget, as I said at the outset, is the key and what most farmers are concerned about, in that we see the budget being eroded. In every CAP negotiation for the past number of decades, we have seen that happen and that needs to be very firmly fought against to ensure we keep the budget in place so farmers can have reliability into the future. That is one of the big things for a lot of people. We talk about generational renewal but when people go into farming, they want to see a future in it. Part of that future is that they have to have a reliable and stable future and they know payments are going to be available to them. On generational renewal, the Minister mentioned how we determine what is a farmer.”
“There is a range of issues there on which I would like to get the Minister's position, including how strong we need to be as a State, particularly when we have the Presidency, to ensure we get a proper deal for Irish farmers.”
“The previous question dealt with the CAP budget to some extent. A number of issues are very concerning for Irish farmers. Obviously, the budget being reduced is the big one. That is a serious problem because we need to see a decent budget in place for CAP to maintain productivity and to ensure we protect the family farm. The Minister mentioned generational renewal in a previous reply. There is talk farmers who are pensioners would not get any payments. That is a serious fear that farmers have. In previous generational renewal schemes, a lot of farmers found there was almost an exclusion order against them that they could not go near the farm anymore. That puts them off the possibility of entering into a scheme for generational renewal.”
“If bluetongue is going to be in Ireland and we are not going to be able to prevent it - that seems to be the situation - how are we going to deal with it and go forward?”
“I understand that vaccines are approved and available but it will cost farmers to vaccinate. Will there be any assistance in that regard, as there could be quite an outlay for farmers? TB is the other big vaccination programme we have in the country at the moment for animal disease and wildlife is obviously a serious issue. If bluetongue becomes a disease that we have to deal with across the State, will the problem arise that it will also spread? Could it potentially be hoarded within the wildlife sector, in particular in deer, which could then be spread to cattle or sheep? The other issue that needs to be addressed in some sense is the impact on trade and in particular live exports? How will that be dealt with and what proposals does the Minister have in respect of that? There is quite a way to go here.”
“I understand that in some of these cases, animals are starting to show more symptoms and they are getting sick. I would like to get an update on that. If farmers are going to have to vaccinate animals, what is the cost of the vaccination programme to which the Minister referred going to be? How quickly can it be rolled out? Is that in itself going to have an impact on our animal trade?”
“I appreciate that a lot of work has been done in respect of this, and that the Department is doing a lot of testing to try to ensure we detect the places where this has arisen. The Minister gave a list of counties where bluetongue has been detected. Are these antibodies that were a consequence of previous infections going back to last autumn or summer, or is any of this potentially a new spread of the disease? That is something we really need to get a handle on. With regard to the symptoms, certainly, in the early cases that were detected, the animals were not displaying any symptoms, which makes it very difficult. We tell farmers to be vigilant and to do everything they possibly can to have good hygiene and good husbandry on their farms. However, if the animals are not displaying symptoms, it is very difficult for them to do that.”
“I would like an update on the position regarding bluetongue. As we know, unfortunately, the disease has been detected at a number of sites throughout the country. Testing is ongoing. This situation is having an impact on trade, particularly the live export trade. I would like to get an update on where the Minister and the Department are on this, and the progress that has been made. Today, we are talking about the temperature possibly going up to 18°C. If we see an increase in temperatures, that will be a significant problem because it creates a situation where bluetongue can become a very serious issue.”
“It just seems a little bit rich that the Government could do nothing but monitor it until this evening and now that we are here and we are actually going to produce something that will have an effect for people and will reduce the tax rate that people have to pay on their fuel and home heating oil, all of a sudden the Government has managed to find the road to Damascus. The Government has turned and is going to do something about it. I wish to God the Government had found that road a couple of weeks ago when people the length and breadth of the country were realising that the price of their home heating oil was going through the roof.”
“We have farmers coming into this time of year when they are filing their tanks with fuel, with their green diesel, and that has all gone up. They have to spread fertiliser. That has to come through the Strait of Hormuz as well and that will be going up. There is a serious crisis coming at our economy if we do not act. The reality is that the Government's tax take, because the base rate has risen, has gone up along with it. People are asking why the Government does not do something. Why has it done nothing up until now? It is only when we come here this evening with this motion and a Bill that will do something that the Tánaiste is able to say the Government is now going to act.”
“People are very annoyed it has taken so long for the Government to come to this situation that the Tánaiste is now able to stand here this evening and say the Government intends to do something. Up until now the Government would not even acknowledge that it intended to do anything. All it intended to do was examine the situation and monitor it. What people hear when the Government says that is that it is going to wait to see if things get worse and that it is not going to do anything about it now. That is what they have been hearing until now and that is not acceptable. We have thousands of people across the country who have to go to work, bring their children to school and do all these things. They drive past the petrol pumps and look up and see the price going up and up all the time.”
“The reason we are here tonight is because for the past two-to-three weeks we have been listening to people the length and breadth of the country, as I am sure the Tánaiste has as well, who are under serious pressure because of the vast increase in the cost of their home heating oil but also of their fuel when they want to go to work and whatever they want to do in life. That has an impact. It has an impact on everybody and it is an immediate impact. It was an immediate impact last week and the week before. This idea that the Government was considering it and analysing it and is now thinking about doing something about it-----”
“What we need to do is arrest that. This spiral downwards has to be stopped, and we have to try to get it to spiral upward again. The only way we can do that is for Government to take a keen interest in ensuring that services that are vital to people's lives are kept in place. That means they will have to be invested in and that contracts in place will have to be viable for a person to take up the position of postmaster or postmistress. It will also mean investment in the network and ensuring the services that are provided by the Government are easily available to people through the post office network. The Ministers need to wake up and realise that talking nice about it does not resolve the problem.”
“I saw it recently in Carrick-On-Shannon where quite a large post office had to close down because the postmistress said she was not doing it anymore. It simply was not viable under the contract that was in place, and the only place it could go was into a large shop, which had that alternative or added service to it. Stand-alone post offices seem to be a thing of the past. For many people in rural areas, that means the post office is going to be a thing of the past. What we are talking about here is ensuring we have a service in place that will enhance and develop rural communities to be sustainable into the future. There is population decline in many rural parishes across the country. We see that with football clubs amalgamating, post offices closing, other services being removed, Garda stations, etc. We could go down the list.”
“As the Minister and Ministers of State will be aware, we have a contraction of services across rural Ireland, and it is not just the post offices. It is other services as well. All these things go hand in glove. Across my rural community, I have seen many post offices over the past decade close. It removes that central piece of contact from the rural community. The Minister talked about the services that are provided and praised people who are in the post office service and the work they are doing and all of that. All that is valid. The reality, however, is that for most people who are acting as postmaster or postmistress, the contract they have at the moment is not viable when that has to change hands. That is the problem we have.”
“Farmers are angry, frustrated and annoyed and cannot believe that the Government cannot see the contradiction of the chair of Bord Bia importing Brazilian beef while being the main advocate when it comes to the sale of Irish products. Farmers are not stupid people. They hear Government telling them that they do not understand the nature of global supply chains. When the Government tells them that, what they hear is "You guys are stupid." They are not stupid. They are intelligent, sensible people who want a solution. Will the Government please bring this matter to a head and sort it out? It cannot go on. If it does, it is going to escalate because these farmers are not going to back down.”
“Five people are occupying the offices of Bord Bia at the moment. They do not want to be there; they want this situation to be resolved. In fairness, the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, in recent days put forward a proposal to try to resolve it. The IFA has offered a suggestion to the effect that the chairperson of Bord Bia step aside while a full review of the situation takes place. Will the Government please, in the interests of everybody involved and, in particular, the industry, which has been brought into disrepute because of what is going on, accept that and move the situation forward? This week and last week, thousands of farmers attended meetings around the country. I attended two of those meetings.”
“There are a number of them in my constituency. There are also special schools that want to open up more spaces but cannot do it because they cannot get the resources. This entire system is a shambles and has been a shambles for a long time. However, this debacle over the past week or two has shown where the Government stands. It does not stand with the ordinary people out there who need the help they absolutely must have for the most vulnerable in our society. The Minister and Minister of State need to own up to this and apologise for what they have done.”
“Within a short period of time - a number of months - you could see improvement and advancement, mainly because of the work being done on a one-to-one basis by the SNA with those children. To suggest that somehow or other, the Minister miscommunicated or that there was a misunderstanding is the greatest load of rubbish anyone ever heard in their lives. The reality is that for two weeks, the Minister has wrangled and tried to say this or that but she would not come out and say she gave an instruction to review the SNAs with an intention of removing them from children in certain schools where she felt she could get away with it. That is what she tried to do and she needs to own up to that reality. There are schools in all our constituencies looking to open up additional classes but cannot get it done.”
“This has gone on for almost two weeks. The point was made earlier that it is a battle a day for the parents of children with special needs. All of us in this House know that because all of us are being contacted every day of the week by families who are trying to get an assessment of need, a place in a school or an appointment somewhere in the health service for their children but cannot get them. They are fighting continually and they are worn out. Sometimes they have children who hardly sleep at all and they have to stay awake with them. This is the one time they get something that actually works. I know a school with a number of special classes and SNAs in place and to which children attending were very difficult.”
“We have to recognise that there has been a failure. Ireland's big failure when we went into European Union, which was the Common Market at the time, has been the fishing sector. The fishing sector was sold out from the very beginning. That is widely recognised. Now is the time, when we are probably at the darkest hour of it, for the Government to step up and recognise not just that we have to do something, but we have a plan and we will put that plan on the table. We need to see the Taoiseach and leaders of Government step into the breach to ensure we can deliver because this is a national crisis that has never been before. On the issue in regard to the Hague preferences, this was a guarantee going back to 1976. What happened to it? It was just tossed away at the whim of the big corporations.”
“Belgium, the Netherlands and these companies and countries have totally taken away the potential livelihood, not just of Irish fishermen but of other small fishermen from other countries within Europe as well. It has been a case of the biggest and more powerful corporations coming to the fore, destroying everything for everyone else and then being rewarded for doing so. Our statements on quotas are really statements on what we are going to do. What will this Government do to step into the breach to defend our national interest, the environment and fishing stocks for the future? What answers has the Minister of State got? So far, all we are hearing is there are meetings, the possibility of some little bit of negotiation to improve things and that we are going to give some little bit of money to fishermen. This is a crisis way beyond that.”
“If this plan to get stocks to recover were to work, and I doubt very much it will because the corporations will continue to do what they have done, where will the capacity be in three, four or five years' time for our industry to be able to deal with a recovery in the fishery? It could not do it because it will be gone. Giving some kind of dole will not solve the problem. While there has to be income support and we have to try to salvage what we can, it is so important that we recognise this as the national crisis it is. We have a vast scale of fisheries in Irish waters that have been totally plundered for decades, not only by fisheries from outside the European Union but by ones within it as well.”
“While the Minister of State is obviously in his position, we need to recognise that this is a national crisis. The Taoiseach needs to step into the breach here and recognise it as such. We have a situation where fishing boats in Ireland, which people in fishing communities have invested their lives in, will go out to sea this year with a quota for possibly a week or ten days. Are they supposed to make a living from that? Factories may only be open to do processing for a few weeks, such is the low level of quota we are looking at. That will be decimation for the future and capacity of the industry, if things do improve.”