A BIM / RTE news item today proclaims how wonderful things are in the Irish fishing industry with word of a €50 million investment from BAR funds for the fish processing industry in Killybegs.
Yes these system upgrades are to be welcomed as they will make the factories more efficient and more environmentally friendly but the ironic part of this report is that the investment “is aimed at encouraging vessels from other countries who might have landed elsewhere to instead land in Killybegs”.
It is laughable to even suggest that more vessels would land in Killybegs in the future as the outrageous behaviour of the Sea Fisheries Protection ‘Authority’ (SFPA) in harassing visiting vessels over the past two winters has more than discouraged vessels from coming to the Donegal port.
It’s also coincidental that just two days after the Central Statistics Office confirmed that production in the Irish fishing sector has fallen by 15% in the past year that BIM, a State Body arm of this Government, release a PR ‘spin’ to the State broadcaster on how rosy things are in this industry when in reality the sector is on the verge of collapse due to lack of government support, an incompetent marine minister and an unaccountable fisheries monitoring body.