Editorial comment - Cormac Burke, IFSA
“The Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) Business of Seafood report launched by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D today reveals a 10% increase in Government investment (€255 million) in 2022 that include the opening of several Brexit Adjustment Reserve schemes to support the industry in the latter half of the year” …
A 10% increase in Government investment in the fishing industry and yet no one can see it….
And the “opening of several BAR schemes to support the industry” resulted in forcing an almost involuntary decommissioning scheme and meanwhile not a single cent paid in BAR compensation to Irish fishermen in the same way that every other EU nation used this fund for.
Meanwhile the Minister and BIM issue a report for public consumption claiming a growth in the ‘seafood sector’ at the same time that national fish quotas and numbers of Irish vessels are severely reduced by papering over the cracks by including the data of imported fish that is sold in Ireland and then include those figures in a summary of the Irish seafood sector.
As someone once said, a pig with lipstick is still a pig…. No matter what way these State and semi-State administrators try to dress it up Ireland’s fishing industry is in the worst condition in living memory - inshore, demersal, pelagic, processing, retail and all of the ancillary companies who service these sectors are all struggling to survive due to Department of Marine mismanagement, an out-of-control SFPA monitoring’authority’, and a lack of political will at the highest levels of this country - - so don’t add insult to injury by trumpeting how great things are and what a good job you’re doing when the people of Ireland’s coastal communities are on the verge of extinction
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