Tomorrow will see the biggest national organised protest seen in this country for many years as the fishermen and women of this country from Malin Head to Mizen Head converge in Dublin, similar to the protest in Cork two weeks ago, in a show of solidarity about the scandalous way that they have been treated for decades and especially for the last 12 months under the Taoiseach's leadership. This will be the second of many protests since fishermen have had enough of inaction, spin and lies. They will take the Taoiseach and the Government's leadership to task for huge inaction which will see every fisherman lose anything between €5,000 and €20,000, with significant job losses in rural Ireland.

I was told that the Taoiseach was in west Cork last Saturday, in Union Hall and Castletownbere. It is always important for a Head of State to visit west Cork. Those who told me on Friday and Saturday that the Taoiseach was coming felt that it was way too late, other than to hear about the nightmare crisis that these fishermen face after calamitous errors by this Government. When in west Cork last Saturday, did the Taoiseach apologise for his continued refusal to appoint a senior Minister for the marine, which was a red line for me in negotiations for the formation of a Government? No matter how I explained the imminent crisis of Brexit and other major issues related to fishing, the Taoiseach refused to understand the importance of appointing a Minister to protect Irish waters, fishermen and our richest resource. Did the Taoiseach take the opportunity to apologise for signing into law the unjust and shockingly unfair penalty points while in his short term as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in 2020?

Did the Taoiseach apologise for the shocking handling of Brexit negotiations in late 2020, where clear evidence shows that the Government's eye was off the ball despite me pleading for the Taoiseach to be involved? While the Government failed, France and other European countries had their terms and conditions fully met by negotiator Michel Barnier before they would agree to anything. Did the Taoiseach apologise to the fishermen for the cock-up with the weighing crisis hoisted upon our fishermen, with the weighing of fish on our piers for inshore and pelagic fishermen? We have since found out that the Minister and the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, knew in December 2020 but failed to consult with the industry until 5 p.m. on Friday, 16 April, about what the industry would call a crisis beyond belief. If the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the SFPA could add more insult to injury to the Irish fishing fleet, we now have an agreement to allow French and Belgian trawlers to park at Irish piers and to unload straight onto lorries without weighing or any checks of any sort. This is a hard pill for honest Irish fishermen who park beside them and have been afflicted by every Irish rule and regulation inflicted on them by the State.

Did the Taoiseach apologise to the fishermen after the attempted ramming of a Castletownbere vessel off the Castletownbere coast by a Spanish trawler which was illegally fishing in Irish waters? It was three times the size of the Castletownbere trawler. Irish fishermen have no protection in their own waters since no one could come to their aid to immediately arrest the Spanish trawler which was carrying out an act of piracy. The only explanation that the Taoiseach gave last Saturday, which has left many exasperated, is that there is an uneven and unfair burden on Irish fishermen and he has made it clear to the Commission. Is that the best the Taoiseach has to offer? Everyone knew this already. Will the Taoiseach reveal today how these fishermen's incomes and livelihoods, which the Government is helping to destroy, can be saved without the word "decommission"?

I had good and constructive engagement with the fishers in west Cork over the weekend. I visited Castletownbere and Union Hall. We had a matter-of-fact meeting to go through the issues in a sensible way, listening to what the fishers had to say and identifying the issues. The country was faced with a no-deal Brexit or a trade and co-operation agreement. A no-deal Brexit would have been catastrophic for the Irish fishing industry, given how dependent our pelagic fleet is on fish in British waters and always was. It was always a problem even prior to Brexit and once Brexit was contemplated at all. That said, there was, in our view, an unfair burden on Ireland arising out of that agreement, which we are pursuing with the Commission. That leads to the key item at the meeting. At the meeting I had yesterday, I initiated a social dialogue forum with the fishing industry and I met with the producer organisations and fishing representatives from the different categories and sectors for more than two hours to go through these issues. One is the Common Fisheries Policy review next year, which will give us an opportunity to see if we can claw back some of the quota and share that we lost as a result of Brexit. Another issue is the control plan.

Deputy Collins is being somewhat disingenuous.

The Department did not remove the derogation in respect of the weighing of fish in our factories. As he knows, the Commission initiated proceedings and an investigation into the plan. Its implementing decision revoked the approval of the Irish control plan for the weighing of fishery products which had been submitted. We received that Commission implementing decision revoking the approval of the Irish control plan submitted for the weighing of fishery products. The SFPA must now respond to that. This is a very serious issue for all the fishers. One of the reasons I was in Union Hall and Castletownbere was to witness at first hand the impact of this decision.

We also need to engage with the Commission on that. Rightly or wrongly, the Commission's assertion is that there was overfishing of our quota and it wants to claw some of that back. We are resisting that. We will need to deploy all legal tools at our disposal to resist it. That brings me back to a point I made to all the groups yesterday. We need to reset our relationship with Europe regarding fishing. The Commission's perception of how we are enforcing the Common Fisheries Policy in Ireland and our perception of that are miles apart. Standing up and attacking the Government on these issues is missing the point. We need to engage with the European Commission on these issues. I intend to engage with it. I intend to work closely with the fishing industry to go through the items I have just referenced and other items that were also raised.

The Taoiseach mentioned the weighing issue and suggested it is the business of the SFPA. The bottom line is that the SFPA and the Minister knew in December that there was a crisis. They did not consult with the industry and they are only doing so now when it is too late. Listening to the Taoiseach today convinces me that the Government does not have a plan for fishing other than to kick the can down the road until next year. All the fishermen are being fed is spin and more spin, going around in circles and leading them to a crisis protest tomorrow.

Only last week the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, stated incorrectly to the Dáil that the control plan is at public consultation. This is incorrect as only white fish and shellfish plans are at public consultation. Pelagic fishing is excluded from the consultation and is not part of any proposals. He also stated that the SFPA would submit the control plan to the European Commission. This is incorrect and misleading as section 43 of the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006 states it is the function of the Minister to submit the control plan to the European Commission following a Cabinet decision on that plan. No control plan can be submitted to the European Commission by the SFPA. This kind of spin to our fishermen is why we are in the mess we are in today.

I plead with the Taoiseach to give us an honest answer. How does the Government propose to immediately address the incomes and the livelihoods of thousands of Irish fishermen who will face an enormous drop in income or face losing their jobs? I again ask the Taoiseach not to insult the fishermen of Ireland by mentioning decommissioning.

I do not intend to engage in any spin. I will talk directly to the fishers generally and to the fish producer organisations. The purpose of yesterday's meeting with all the organisations across the country was to have a no-holds-barred meeting. It cannot be ping-pong with one side standing back attacking the other. That achieves nothing. That is why the Minister established the seafood sector task force. Agreement was reached on an initial application of funding from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve Fund which would provide support to counter the adverse consequences of Brexit and to help fishers in the immediate timeframe ahead. The task force will then return to a broader application of funding from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve Fund to see how we can in the medium term support fishers and also the coastal communities supported by fishing.

As the Deputy notes, the Government has provided substantial supports to Castletownbere, a harbour close to his heart. In May, the Minister announced a substantial capital programme in that respect and we also want to support fishing communities through the Brexit Adjustment Reserve Fund. We want to support primarily the fishers themselves who are under considerable pressure from both Brexit and the decision by the European Commission in respect of the control plan.