Calls have been made for the European Union to take steps to help the Irish fishing industry which is battling against a number of issues including a post-Brexit cut to the Irish fish quota.
A cross-party and multi-national delegation of MEPs is visiting the south-east of the country this week to meet with fishing and coastal representatives and those working in the sector and will be compiling a report with recommendations for the European Commission and the European Parliament.
The MEPs are meeting people in Dunmore East and Kilmore Quay today and hearing about their concerns, and will tomorrow travel to Rosslare Harbour and Europort to find out more about the effect that Brexit has had on the area in the last number of years.
CEO of the South and East Fish Producers Association, John Lynch, said that from a fisheries' point of view, there's been a "very serious" Brexit-related impact in Ireland.
"We have 41 vessels being decommissioned as we speak and that has brought a very negative vibe in the whole industry, right around the coast really, and that is all from the loss of quota in the Brexit trade agreement with the UK," Mr Lynch said.
"Ireland gave €43 million [worth of fish] out of €160 million. The European Union gave €160 million worth of fish quota to the UK, that's per annum, in the [trade agreement] with the UK, and Ireland gave €43 million of that bill."
Such a loss has an impact on the fishing fleet, he said, which is why so many vessels are going through a decommissioning scheme.
"We ended up having to reduce the fleet, which reduces the local economy, it creates huge problems for ancillary industries: netmakers, engineers, welders, local stores and shops, chandlers, the oil suppliers, even the harbours themselves," Mr Lynch added.
He said he hopes the European Parliament delegation will be able to recommend steps to the EU Commission which could help the sector.
Dunmore East-based fisherman Ger Caulfield has been fishing from the area since he left school, 36 years ago.
"When I started off, the job was a bit of fun, and now it's not," Mr Caulfied said.
"You wake up every morning and look around at paperwork and everything else and crew and lack of quota and all different things coming together. The price of diesel and stuff like that doesn't help.
"And the Government doesn't really help either."
Problems include trying to get crew; diesel prices and quota loss, he said.
"Brexit didn't help either. The quota went down more, we got basically shafted, we got a lesser slice of the pie than the EU," Mr Caulfield added.
He said he hoped the EU would be able to help, having seen the issues at first hand, and said that it would be "an absolute shame" if a trawler such as the Endeavour that he skippers, employing five people, had to be decommissioned because of various pressures.
The delegation is being led by Green Party MEP Grace O'Sullivan who said the objective is to allow them to meet "fishing communities and the various stakeholders" and hear about the challenges at first hand.
"The big issue on the table really is the issue of quotas, and also the different stocks, the diversity of the stocks that are here in Irish waters," Ms O'Sullivan said.
"There's a real sense from the whole fishing community that they're not getting a fair share, and I think that's really important as an island nation, as a member of the European Union, the fishing sector feel they're being let down and that's what we're really here to listen, and then to try to see what way we can actually support them, going forward.
"The plan is to put together a report based on the input from various people they're meeting, and present it to the EU Commissioner for Environment, Ocean and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevicius, and also bring it to the table of Minister [for Agriculture and the Marine] McConalogue and let it also trickle down into the Regional Assembly, into the different councils around the coastline, so that we can do our best to represent the voices of those in the rural environment, fishing and coastal communities around the coast of Ireland."
