Concerning the inadequate fishing allocations, the Minister is probably aware of the latest proposals by the EC to have the mackerel quotas reduced next year from 79,000 to 62,000 tonnes. This will have a disastrous effect on the fishing industry in Donegal and Ireland. Killybegs is in a particularly serious situation. What steps do the Minister and the Government intend to undertake to counteract these proposals from the Commission?

The Minister is in Brussels at a meeting of the Council of Ministers. Some indications were given that it was, by and large, a meeting to decide on prices. The meeting to decide quotas will be over the weekend of 9 and 10 December. I fully concur with Deputy McGinley that this proposal will have serious effects on our industry because the 79,350 tonnes we have at the moment, together with other quotas and other swops we received, have brought us well in excess of 90,000 tonnes. We are having difficulties on the west coast at this time, one of which is that quite a substantial amount of our quota was not landed into the country this year. This is something that I will be taking a very serious view of in the future. Any Government should ensure that the majority of fish is landed into the country and processed here so that jobs are created on-shore. Unfortunately, because of weather, and maybe other conditions, almost half of the mackerel quota this year was landed on to luggers from eastern Europe. This is something we will be looking at very closely. We will have to try to entice the boats to return to shore where the price is much better.