24 April 2024
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
The impact of Brexit on Cork’s and Ireland’s fishing community investigated on TG4 TV programme airing on Wednesday 24 April at 9:30pm
Above: Tomás Ó Féinneadha Castletownbere, Co. Cork, Reddy Ó Faoláin Skipper, Castletownbere, Co, Cork. and Kevin Magee: Investigative journalist, Iniúchadh TG4, Greencastle Pier, Co. Donegal.
The serious impact of the EU post-Brexit trade deal on the livelihood of fishing communities along the west coast of Ireland is the subject of an investigative documentary Iniúchadh TG4 – Anfa Mara to be broadcast on TG4 on Wednesday 24th of April at 9.30pm.
Investigative journalist Kevin Magee hears first-hand from fishermen in Greencastle and Machaire Rabhartaigh, Co. Donegal, Rossaveel and Inis Mór, Co.Galway, Dingle, Co. Kerry and Casteltownbere, Co. Cork on how their incomes are being squeezed post Brexit.
The fishermen are angry that an estimated 15 per cent of the value of the Irish fishing quota has been taken from them and assigned to the UK as part of the Brexit trade agreement reached between the United Kingdom and the European Union, known as the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) that came into force in January 2021.
The loss of quota to the Irish fleet represents a serious blow to the fishing industry, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D. tells the programme.
“Brexit has been a big hit. It has been the most significant hit to quotas since the Common Fisheries Policy was being established back 45 years ago.
“Brexit wasn’t my idea. And Brexit was a very bad idea. Brexit damaged the country that did it, and it damaged its most neighbouring country, and the sector within our own country that has been most impacted is fisheries.”
“In order for a deal to happen, there was a re-allocation of EU quota including Irish quota as a result, and that has hurt. There is no two ways about that.”
While the overall quota reduction for Irish fish is down 15 per cent, some species are affected more than others. The share for Ireland’s largest non-pelagic fishery, prawns, is down 14 per cent, and the reduction for herring in the Irish sea is 96 per cent, according to figures supplied by the DAFM.
“We’ll never fish herring in the Irish Sea again. In the wintertime you could have picked two or three weeks of wages for your crew, to pay for your business, the whole lot. That’s gone, that opportunity,” Greencastle skipper Michael Cavanagh told the programme.
Reddy Ó Faoláin has been fishing out of Castletownbere in county Cork for the past 30 years.
He said: “The quota was much bigger last year. It’s this year the cuts in the quotas have been introduced that we gave to England and that has a huge impact on the margins the boats make in a month. We used to have 25 tonnes and now we only have 18 tonnes. That’s two thirds of your take home pay gone every week. No one is able to lose two thirds of their pay and not say anything about it. We are all saying the same thing – give us a little bit of the quota, that’s what we want. We’re not looking for handouts, we just want to fish and feed people.”
Irish fishermen tell the programme they are frustrated that foreign boats from other EU countries continue fishing in Irish waters while they often remain tied-up on the quayside because they have reached their monthly allocated catch.
Spiddal native Tomás Ó Féinneadha is a crew member on the Sarah David which is currently tied-up in Castletownbere. He said: “We were landing fish yesterday. We’re going to be docked now for three months. We’ve no quota left. There’s nothing at all left. It’s scandalous. We don’t have much of a quota and we can’t do anything about it.”
To help reduce the impact of the quotas lost through Brexit, the Department introduced a decommissioning scheme to remove fishing vessels from the Irish fleet.
Minister McConalogue explained the reason behind it. “It was to re-size the fleet in order to make sure that boats were viable. If a percentage wanted to exit and be paid to exit, it would then free up the amount of quota, the per centage of our national quota that those boats would have had. That then gets reallocated among the remaining boats. “
The programme also hears from Aran Islander John Conneely who had two boats decommissioned, the MFV Connacht Ranger and the Conquest.
He said: “I suppose you could say that there’s a lot of money in it, but there was a lot of money owed to the banks as well. The banks took a lot of it (decommissioning money). They got most of it. It would have been a lot better if they had helped us to stay in business, but there was no talk of that.”
A total of 39 vessels were decommissioned according to Bord Iascaigh Mhara, as part of a scheme funded under the European Commission’s Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR).
The amount spent on the decommissioning scheme was €59.3m, with €28.9m spent on the Brexit Temporary Tie scheme which aimed to temporarily mitigate the negative impact on the white fish sector as a result of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.