Over 100 fishing vessels to take protest to Dublin
A flotilla of roughly 60 fishing vessels makes its way up the River Lee past Páirc Uí Chaoimh last month. Picture: Cian O'Regan
The fishers who sailed into the Port of Cork last month will take their flotilla to Dublin on June 23.
Over 100 fishing vessels are due to get as far as the National Convention Centre, where the Dáil is temporarily housed.
The fishermen and women are trying to get the Government to act as they face big cuts caused by Brexit and EU quotas and controls that have heavily impacted the industry.
They estimate that Brexit, for example, is costing individual fishermen and women between €5,000 and €20,000 in lost income because of a quota system that operates, they say, against the interests of the Irish fishing industry.
They say not enough is being done by the Government to stick up for them in Europe and they are warning the future of a €1bn-a-year industry that employs 16,000 people is now in doubt as a result.
They are also warning that if the Government does not act soon, they will take more direct action.
Some fishers have suggested this might include the blockade of ports around the country.
Joining the flotilla will be fishermen and women from Cork, Kerry, Galway, Donegal, Wexford, Waterford, and Dublin.
“The Taoiseach has not met us yet, despite our protest in Cork last month,” said organiser Patrick Murphy, CEO of the Castletownbere-based Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation.
The flotilla will steam up the River Liffey as far as Samuel Beckett Bridge in the early hours of June 23.
Because the Tom Clarke Bridge by the East Link will need to be raised to let them in, the flotilla is likely to have to assemble from around 3am.
The Tom Clarke Bridge is a major north-south artery and the Dublin Port Company is unlikely to be able to keep the bridge raised for long during rush hour.
Tensions are high in the industry among fishers who feel they are under attack from all sides.
As well as having to deal with ever-changing and ever-demanding EU legislative changes, and Brexit, they resent the fact that the EU allows other countries to fish for more fish in Irish waters than the Irish.
There is also increased talk among fishers for a more militant approach to what they see as a "hands-off" Government.
Some feel they should emulate the French farmers. Riot police had to be drafted in to deal with them recently after they closed off a major route into Paris over increased legislation on the farming industry.
