The decision of the British Government to withdraw from the London Fisheries Convention has been raised. I urge the Acting Leader to invite the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to the Seanad as soon as possible to address this matter of immense importance to our fishing community around the coast. Some 100,000 tonnes are caught in those waters by our fleet every year, so it is an extremely serious issue. One component of it that has not been raised yet is Lough Foyle. British Governments claim the entire area of Lough Foyle which is beside the Inishowen Peninsula, where I am from. The current Secretary of State, Mr. James Brokenshire, made a clear statement that his government claims Lough Foyle in its entirety. That is an arrogant and repugnant statement and our Government needs to do more about it.

Hear, hear.

The difficulty is that due to our failure to confront the British Government, its statement on withdrawing from the London Fisheries Convention means, in practice, that it is claiming the fishing rights of Lough Foyle. We must have urgent clarification from the Minister that the Irish Government will defend the rights of fishermen living on the Inishowen Peninsula to continue their livelihoods. A clear statement must be made that their livelihoods will be protected. I seek urgent clarification on this issue and on whether the Minister has made contact with his counterpart in the British Government to deal with it. I ask the Acting Leader to invite the Minister to the House at the earliest opportunity to make a statement to clarify, first, our position in respect of the London Fisheries Convention and how we intend to engage with the British Government on it and, second, the status of Lough Foyle and what the Government is doing to challenge the British Government on its arrogance in this matter.