Two of the largest supertrawlers and factory ships in the world have been hoovering up vast amounts of fish in Irish waters over the past two weeks. The 470-foot Annelies Ilena and the 470-foot Margiris were joined by another supertrawler, the 383-foot Helen Mary. All three vessels are owned by a Dutch corporation. The presence of these monster vessels in Irish waters is a real kick in the teeth for our struggling Irish fishing industry, which is facing further quota cuts, tie-up schemes and the decommissioning of dozens of vessels. This has to stop now. Will the Government commit today to a campaign to ban these supertrawlers and factory ships from fishing in Irish waters in the way they do?

The Deputy needs to give the Government a more specific proposal. Fishing quotas are covered by the EU, as the Deputy knows. He also knows the decommissioning is because of Brexit. It was a decision because of Britain leaving the European Union. We avoided a no-deal Brexit, which would have been calamitous for our fishers, as one can understand. Deep down the Deputy knows, even though he says something else more publicly, that we cannot just ban a particular thing.

I asked for a campaign to ban.

A campaign to ban, but we need honesty when dealing with people. I will engage with the fisher organisations but will not make promises on the hoof that the Deputy and I know will not be delivered upon any time soon.

Will the Government campaign to ban the vessels?

We need to focus, in negotiations at European level, on trying to get more gains for our fishers.

Would the Government like to stop these monster ships?

The decommissioning scheme is because of Brexit but it does involve the making available of significant resources to compensate the fishers for losing out.

Waffle, waffle, waffle.