Ruadhán Jones
Following a European Commission (EC) ruling that Ireland can’t be trusted to police its own fishing quotas, a Donegal-based priest criticised the Irish Government for failing to defend the fishing sector.
The ruling comes as a blow after the Irish fishing sector had already lost €43 million following Brexit negotiations.
Fr John Joe Duffy said EU states fight “tooth and nail” to protect their fishing sectors, “while the inept and weak Irish Government, Deparment of Marine and their Sea Fisheries Protection Authorities (SFPA) do everything to frustrate, criminalise and destroy Irish fishermen”.
Fish catches in Ireland must be weighed at landing instead of in factories after the EC’s audit revealed “manipulation of weighing systems” and under-declaration by operators.
“Spurious allegations without foundation have been made against Irish fishermen in a leaked document and leaked comments to the media,” the Donegal-based priest told The Irish Catholic. “The fishing sector has called for the Government to display and make available evidence of any fishing infringements but to no avail.”
Comparing the situation of the fishing industry to the banking crisis and collapse of 2008, Fr Duffy said we are seeing a scenario “whereby the SFPA and the Government are failing in their duty to protect the fishing sector and attempting to blame Irish fishermen for failures that truly lie at the door of the SFPA ,the Irish Government and Department of Marine”.
The latest ruling will cause “chaos” for Irish fishermen, including lengthy time delays for boats to land their fish and damaging the quality of fish.
“It is very frustrating to stand in Irish ports and see French, Spanish and other European boats land fish they catch in Irish waters as they wish and off load the fish onto lorries without weighing, queuing or inspection,” Fr Duffy said.