Ireland’s leading maritime newspaper covering the Coastal, Fishing and Maritime Communities

MARINE TIMES NEWS September 1st:
Fishing Communities Deserve Accountability

Fishing communities must no longer be treated as a commodity to be frittered away until there is little or nothing left according to the National Inshore Fishermen’s Association (NIFA).

In a statement to the Marine Times, NIFA says that; “For decades, Ireland’s fishing and seafood families have watched their industry decline while successive governments and administrations failed to adequately protect the communities whose livelihoods depend upon it.

“By the 2024 General Election, the deterioration of the sector could no longer be ignored.

“The Programme for Government recognised the importance of fisheries and marine matters to Ireland’s future and to the coastal communities whose livelihoods depend on the sector. It also made the deliberate and significant decision to establish a dedicated Minister of State role for Fisheries and Marine.

“That decision should have marked a turning point.

“Instead, Minister Timmy Dooley’s recent correspondence raises extremely serious questions about what was happening within the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

“The Minister refers to reservations from a senior official regarding the Government’s decision to provide dedicated political representation for fisheries and marine. More seriously, he states that efforts were subsequently made by a senior DAFM official to discourage his efforts to protect Ireland’s Hague Preferences ahead of the December 2025 Council of Ministers meeting.

“If that account is correct, the fishing industry deserves answers.

“Why would a senior official have reservations about fisheries and marine receiving stronger political representation?

“Why would efforts be made to discourage a Minister from defending fishing opportunities that are of enormous importance to Ireland?

“And was the same senior official involved in both instances?

“These are legitimate questions of accountability and democratic oversight.

“Ireland’s fishing industry cannot afford internal resistance to Government policy at a time when coastal communities are already fighting for survival.

“Minister Dooley has invested considerable time, energy and political capital in engaging with the sector and attempting to address problems that have accumulated over decades. That work must not be undermined from within the very Department charged with supporting the industry.

“NIFA believes the Minister must have the full backing of Cabinet to exercise the authority of his office and implement Government policy for fisheries and marine.

“Civil servants have an essential role in advising Government. But ultimately, policy is determined by democratically elected Government and Ministers must be able to carry out that mandate.

“Ireland’s fishing communities have waited long enough.

“They deserve transparency.

“They deserve accountability.

“And above all, they deserve a Government and Department that will fight for their future rather than manage their decline.”

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