Mr President, I for one cannot accept the Fraga report. The rapporteur is Spanish, the Chairman of the Fishery Committee is Spanish. This is a crude political ploy. This report did not originate within the EU. The 2.5 kms of net orginated in a US report which was sent to the Commission in 1992. When are we going to take our own decisions in this Parliament?

I have lost confidence in the committee system in this House as a result of the meeting on last Monday night when 109 amendments went through in record time. You would have thought we were at the Olympics and trying to break a record. 109 amendments were only circulated in the various languages ten minutes before. How could one possibly comprehend that?

If that is the way this House works, then we have to have a further look at the system. Furthermore the amended version was available thirty minutes before amendments had to be submitted at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night. There was no urgency with this report. This was borne out yesterday at the Council of Ministers. We understand the German Presidency would not allow a debate on it and it could have been discussed informally. That is not the message that has come here today with the Commissioner. I feel that it is time for us to take decisions as Members of Parliament without any interference from the Commission.

In my own country, Ireland, hundreds of jobs will be affected in rural areas. Thousands of families will be affected as a result of this. Plans were afoot to establish a canning factory; they cannot go ahead. Remember there are areas of the Community in Ireland, in France and the UK where there is no alternative source of employment. Also remember that tuna is not a precious stock. If it was, then the Commission would have introduced a TAC and a quota a long time ago and they did not.

This report is typical of the Spanish who have plundered the seas off my coast within the Irish box with their hidden holds, their undersize meshes. We have not heard too much from the Commission or from the Spanish politicians about that and I am sure that by their silence they are condoning what the Spanish have done there over a period.

We have been responsible in this context, we realise the ecological factor, we realise that 23m ECU's is not sufficient and it is impossible to convert from drift net to line fishing. I regret that we do not have more time, but I look forward to explaining my vote prior to voting. Thank you.