EU decimated our fishing industry

THE big political parties claim it would be unwise to reject the Lisbon treaty. They say it would reflect badly on us and we would be seen as ungrateful after all the prosperity the EU has brought us.

No doubt there are huge advantages to membership, but there are huge disadvantages also.

One of the big disadvantages is loss of sovereignty over surrounding waters when we joined the EEC. Only Irish vessels could fish in Irish territorial waters, which extended 50 miles from our coast.

Today we look out at EU waters where continental vessels can fish right up to our shores.

The Irish fishing industry was once a major employer all around our coast, but in recent years it has been in serious decline. Our governments past negotiations with the EU have seriously short-changed our fishermen. Hundreds of small businesses have disappeared in rural areas and even more worrying is the loss of skills.

Young people no longer consider a career in fishing and our ability to maintain a viable fishing industry is uncertain. What a ridiculous prospect for an island nation.

When you consider that we have ceded control of thousands of square miles of the best fishing grounds in the world, you may begin to realise the enormity of what we have lost.

Before joining the EEC, our fishing grounds were in the common ownership of the Irish people, so that means every Irish citizen has paid a huge price for EU membership. Until the EU and our Government acknowledge that their combined policies have decimated coastal economies in this country, their case for giving yet greater powers to the EU will ring hollow along our coastline.

Pat Fitzgerald

Leperstown

Dunmore East

Co Waterford