The Irish Fishing and Seafood Alliance (IFSA) has released a scathing open letter blasting the Minister for the Marine, Fianna Fáil TD Charlie McConalogue, and accusing him of “abandoning [his] constituents and the people of Ireland’s coastal regions.”
The IFSA, which was founded in February of 2021, describes itself as “an organisation established to give the people of Ireland’s coastal communities and fishing industry a platform from which to voice their concerns at the ongoing mismanagement of the Irish seafood sector.” It claims to have gathered 4,250 petition signatures, 65 vessels and 40 companies subscribing to it.
However, Cormac Burke, chairman of the IFSA, has hit out at Marine Minister McConalogue in a newly-released open letter, claiming that the minister dismissed his organisation’s legitimate queries in a parliamentary question as “not being of relevance to the industry”.
“Personally, I care little for your opinion of the IFSA as this voice will still be loud long after your political career has gone quiet,” Burke wrote.
“But I think your dismissive attitude is a slap in the face to the 4,250 people in Ireland’s coastal communities who signed the IFSA petition and gives weight to the belief that this Government continues to ignore Ireland’s marine sector and to neglect it to an almost criminal degree.
“In the eight weeks since the IFSA was formed, some 28 articles have been produced (most of which were emailed to you and, I might add, without even the courtesy of a formal response) and these articles have posed a series of questions that are obviously causing some discomfort to you and your Dept. of Marine officials.”
The letter went on to raise a wide variety of issues, pointing out the fact that Ireland was the “hardest hit of all EU nations in the bungled Brexit deal i.e. an overall loss of 15% of Irish quota, whilst other nations suffered only a 6% loss?”
Ireland ‘not at all happy’ about ‘disproportionate’ fish quota loss – Minister https://t.co/QvRwicsl0X via @IrishTimesPol
— Irish Times Politics (@IrishTimesPol) January 22, 2021
The letter quotes TD Michael Collins during comments in the Dáil, who said “Fisheries Council meetings attended by the Minister on 27th November and on the 15th/16th December, where the Brexit fisheries element of negotiations were discussed, point to the Minister acting as a protector of European quota interests rather than as protector of the Irish share of quota.”
Additionally, the organisation claimed that the Irish government has failed to challenge the EU Commission, even though it continues to work towards the benefit of “fishing superpowers”, such as the Netherlands, Spain and France, “to the detriment of Ireland.”
The organisation points out that while both the European Commission and the Irish minister have said the loss of Irish fishing revenue from Brexit will be around €43 million per annum, this does not reveal the full picture, as, “in recent discussions between the EU and Norway, the value of fish quotas was considered over a 20-year term.”
Minister for Marine has admitted to first meeting of new Seafood Task Force that Brexit Agreenent will lead to loss of €43 million per year in quotas for fisheries sector, with knock-on effects on marine support industries and Irish coastal communities. #fishing
— Marine Times Newspaper (@marine_times) March 10, 2021
Extrapolating that to Ireland, the Irish seafood industry is set to lose €860 million in revenue over the next 20 years.
“These are some extremely serious points of discussion, and whilst you may attempt to dismiss the IFSA as an organisation, you are certainly in breach of your duties as a marine minister if you blindly refuse to address the questions being asked on behalf of Ireland’s fishing and seafood industries,” Burke concluded.
“You have an elected mandate to serve the best interests of those who have entrusted you to hold office and make representation on their behalf. Why are you abandoning your constituents and the people of Ireland’s coastal regions?”
The letter can be read in full here.