MARTIN FERRIS TD,
A Chara, - John McManus (Business Opinion, November 18th) is correct in drawing attention to a number of salient facts regarding the Irish fishing industry that are seldom aired. Chief of these is that the value of the direct payments received by this State since 1973 have been dwarfed by the €120 billion of fish taken from our waters in that same period.
However, I must take him up on two matters. Firstly it is not true that no-one has made an issue of this up to now. As a fisherman myself I well remember the protests made by people involved in the industry at the time of accession. It was also the case that Sinn Féin and others pointed out the massive betrayal which was represented by the inept deal made in regard to fishing by the Irish negotiators.
Secondly, the reason he gives for the historic neglect of fishing is rather dubious; namely that it was regarded as somehow not an intrinsically Irish pursuit. That is not why the industry is in such poor condition.
Rather it is because, as in so many other areas, the people who have held power in this State have failed to exert proper control and direction over our natural resources. Instead they have been content to give them away almost as though they had nothing to do with us.
I would suggest that this has far more to do with an abject failure to properly tackle the issues of post-colonial state-building and to create the necessary infrastructure to ensure that in the first place those resources are used to the benefit of our people before auctioning them off to the first bidder. - Is mise,
MARTIN FERRIS TD,
Dáil Éireann,
Baile Átha Cliath,
Dublin 2.