The line from the 1940s Ernest Hemingway book says “Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee” very much sums up the current mood of the Irish fishing industry with the feeling that eventually ‘death comes to us all…’
But, despite the sense of having to hold our breath whilst waiting for the seemingly inevitable bad news, there has to be hope that the long-suffering fishing sector will finally see some support in a new Government.
Editorial Comment - Cormac Burke, IFSA
As expected, Taoiseach Simon Harris has called the general election for later this month.
Harris made the announcement on the eve of a meeting of EU leaders in Budapest today where Donald Trump’s election victory will be a key topic, with Ireland particularly concerned over the impact the new U.S. president may have on the country’s heavy reliance on U.S. tech companies for employment and corporate tax.
Although deciding to go to the nation in just 22 days’ time (Nov 29th), Harris had the option of waiting until the end of the Government’s five-year term in March to call an election but some political commentators believe that there were concerns that chief opposition party Sinn Féin, slowly recovering from a decline in popularity, could have strengthened its hand by March.
Both Harris (Fine Gael) and Michael Martin (Fianna Fáil) seem confident that their coalition partnership, even without the help of the Green Party, can sweep to power once again but such confidence can be misplaced - - as seen by the sudden collapse of Germany's ruling coalition this week after the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, sacked his finance minister and paved the way for a snap election – - triggering political chaos in Europe's largest economy just hours after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election.
And so here we go again - - ahead of us lies three weeks of the election merry-go-round as candidates from every political party distract drivers with their pissing contest of ‘lets see who can put up the most posters’ (has anyone actually EVER voted for someone just because they saw their face on a lamppost poster?), knock on our doors, agree with all the complaints we have, and promise to make everything better.
And yet not one of these parties has, not yet at least, made a single election reference to the crisis in the Irish fishing industry, never mind include this sector in their manifestos.
For all the political parties, the mere 16,000 people who rely on the fishing and seafood industry may seem ‘a drop in the ocean’ in terms of the potential total electorate and perhaps even not worth their party’s attention in a campaign for national power but, as highlighted recently by the IFSA, some 117 of the total 174 TDs to be elected later this month are running in coastal constituencies and therefore the voting power of those on the coast, and in the fishing industry nationwide, does indeed merit serious consideration.
Political affiliation aside, come the end of November the Irish fishing industry can only hope and pray for change - - a change of Government attitude towards this traditional and vital sector, change in representing the EU Commission to Ireland instead of the other way around, and a change in a marine minister who actually listens to the needs and the advice from the industry.
Footnote:
When the Taoiseach dissolves the Dáil tomorrow, Charlie McConalogue will become ‘caretaker minister’ for Agriculture, Food & Marine until election day - - which should be a nice change as voters in Donegal are sure to bitterly remember the distinct lack of care or respect shown for this industry and for the coastal communities in evidence since his rushed appointment to the position in September 2020 in the aftermath of the golf [Covid regulation breach] scandal in August 2020 and the sacking of sitting DAFM minister Calleary.
It remains to be seen if McConalogue can retain his seat but, of all the poor decisions made during his term as marine minister, it will surely come home to roost his arrogance shown when holding a public meeting in Killybegs at the height of the fishing industry crisis and then insisting on talking about housing grants, refusing to even discuss fishing and then, with a smirk, telling people they were “free to leave the room if they didn’t like what they were hearing” will live long in the memory of the coastal communities who gave him their precious vote last time around and will think long and hard before doing the same thing again.
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