The Old Blog Cabin today salutes the Irish fishermen (and women) who will strike for their rights in harbours around the Irish coast and in Dáil Éireann.
Fishing communities in this country have been devastated in recent years with a combination of EU rules, quotas and harassment by the authorities, while our territorial waters have been almost emptied of their bounty. The reason, our fisheries were opened to all comers by a shoddy deal with the European Union and Irish fishermen have no chance of competing with their well-financed EU (and non-EU) counterparts who have almost fished out Irish waters.
On top of that the fishermen have to deal with fuel prices rising out of all proportion to reality due to the US financial crisis. It seems strange that the price of a commodity that comes out of a hole in the ground can sky-rocket because Wall Street gets a cold. With the price of oil heading inexorably towards the outrageous price of $2.00 a barrel fishermen are right to be angry.
The Old Blog Cabin wholeheartedly supports the fishermen and their families because they are the backbone of many coastal communities. It also gives one more reason to say No to the new European Constitution (aka the Lisbon Treaty) which will further strengthen the EUs grip on our country.
