Ireland again the corrupt EU Commission ‘whipping boys’

The Irish fishing industry will this morning be in shock and coming to terms with the failure, once again, of the Irish Government to show some backbone in standing up to the fishing industry (with probably a similar outcome next week for the Mercosur dealing a blow to Irish farmers).

Usually the outcome of this annual Council of Ministers quota negotiations leaves Irish fishermen with losses but with also some crumbs of comfort but this time, with no change to proposed massive EU proposed quota cuts across all species, on top of a crooked campaign, led by the Netherlands, to rob Ireland of its small ‘safety net’ in the form of The Hague Preferences, this means despite the best efforts of the Irish negotiating team out in Brussels, the fact remains that while Ireland should be in a position of power because it holds the wealthiest waters in Europe we have once again been crushed underfoot by the other EU Member States who, ironically, catch most of their quotas IN IRISH WATERS.

But one only has to listen to the Taoiseach’s reply to SF TD Conor Conor D. McGuinness (on social media) last Tuesday to see that this Government was already bowing down to the EU Commission, even before the outcome, when he more or less said that Ireland has to ‘go along with’ whatever the EU Commission wants.

As for Minister Dooley, in his efforts to fight for the industry he has certainly returned some respect to his office after the term of his dreadfully inept predecessor McConalogue but unfortunately that means little this morning to fishermen and boat owners who have more or less seen their industry wiped out in less than eight years.

Meanwhile, you can expect the cries from all political parties now for some sort of financial compensation for the fishing industry and no doubt Michael Martin will make a big deal of passing out a few million and saying this shows how much he cares about the fishing industry…. But, similar to the Brexit money handout, miserly one-off compensation means nothing to people who have lost a livelihood and a lifetime’s work…

When, if ever, is the Irish Government going to challenge the EU Commission over its blatant aiding and abetting of the Dutch fishing powers to basically put the Irish fishing industry out of business through their coercing other nations to back them in all matters pertaining to robbing Ireland of their rights, both EU and nationally.

This is a sad day, not just for the fishing industry but for anyone who ever thought that Ireland had a crumb of sovereignty left…. Under this Government we are no longer Irish… we are faceless and voiceless EU citizens, and we are no longer recognized as the holders of Irish waters but purely another country with (minor) share and access to an EU ‘shared resource’….

.