Fishing community in Mayo on its knees - Lawless

Aontú TD Paul Lawless spoke up for inshore fisheries in the Oireachtas Fishing and Maritime Committee, highlighting in particular the problems faced by the inshore fishing sector in Mayo.

Deputy Lawless said: "Inshore fishers are the backbone of coastal communities. There are 150 inshore fishing vessels in operation between Louisburgh and Killala and 70 per cent of them are in Erris. The loss of quotas as a result of Brexit and the recent Hague Preferences has been detrimental to the sector, to the point that it is now bordering on unviable.

"The Minister has announced a taskforce to create a compensation scheme which will bridge the gap for the duration of this loss of quotas. My fear is that many fishers will be gone out of business by the time the quotas go back to normal. The compensation scheme cannot come quick enough - the Minister needs to speed the process up.

"In order to qualify for any grant aid, fishermen or women must disclose via the National Seafood Survey how much money they have in the bank. This is highly invasive.

“The richest farmer in this country is entitled to CAP payments, so why can't fishers be afforded a scheme to save them from extinction. Minister Timmy Dooley needs to take this seriously and get the money flowing as a matter of urgency before fishermen start selling their boats. I raised this at the committee and will continue to raise it at Dáil level," concluded Deputy Lawless.