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PROTESTERS IN DINGLE have prevented the landing of a Spanish-owned trawler at the local port, with fishermen arguing that it poses a risk of spreading Covid-19.
Last night, RTÉ News reported that the small group of fishermen were mounting the blockade at the entrance to Dingle pier.
In recent weeks, there had been similar protests in Dingle and Castletownbere against Europe-registered ships in an attempt to prevent them from landing.
Last night, gardaí were called to try to ensure access to the pier for the trawler.
In a statement, a garda spokesperson said: “Gardaí attended the scene of a demonstration at Dingle Pier in the early hours of Monday 20 April 2020. No incidents were reported. No arrests have been made.”
The trawler, facing a blockade made up of 40 protesters, was prevented from docking at around 4.30am this morning.
Instead, the trawler later landed in Castletownbere.
Locals who spoke to TheJournal.ie had said that there were concerns about ongoing rumours of fishermen from Spanish-owned vessels entering the village to shop for groceries and other reasons.
This is despite new government measures to address the concerns of locals, with the introduction of separate landing zones for all incoming vessels and crew asked to stay within this area when landing.
“Local suppliers will continue to provide any provisions vessels may require”, the government advice states. Provisions such as fuel, groceries etc. will be delivered into the designated area.”
Locally, fishing groups have insisted that the protests are a response to Covid-19 fears. However, there have been some tensions in recent years over the recurring issue of EU fishing quotas, as well as concerns about market allocation during this crisis.
Patrick Murphy, the CEO of the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation, said locals had not been communicated with properly. Comparing the weekly arrival at some local ports to the same footfall from a “luxury cruiser”, Murphy said that people were genuinely scared of the spread of the virus.
While stressing that his organisation was not involved in the protests, Murphy said that he understood people’s concerns.
“People are in fear for their lives,” he said. Murphy said that it wasn’t just fisherman who were protesting.
“We need to talk to the Spanish authorities and the embassy to find out what safeguards are in place to make sure they’re not sending out sick seamen,” he said.
He called on the government and local authorities to “communicate between all the different groups to address the fears they’re being bombarded with”.
Murphy said that these protests were solely about Covid-19. “The bigger story for us in the industry is that markets have collapsed. You have fisherman who haven’t earned any money,” he said.
But, he said, “if it was about the other issues, you would see the protests here [in Castletownbere] as well”.
The similar protests three weeks ago were condemned by several fishing organisations as “unnecessary, alarmist and without any reasonable nor rational foundation”.
“The organisations emphasised that they enjoyed cordial and professionally sound working relationships with their French and Spanish counterparts, as well as with the wider European industry, but protests such as those which had taken place in Dingle and Castletownbere in the last 48 hours were not in anyone’s interests and should not be repeated,” the groups said in a statement issued last month.
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They just don’t taste the same since they took the horse out.
People buying *fewer* frozen burgers is surely an unexpected benefit of this debacle? Just hope they’re buying something fresher and healthier instead!
We’ve always made our own hamburger patties. Even growing up in my Mothers home, she made and still does make everything from scratch, even her pizza bases and pasta..
Last night I mad hamburgers for the family.. So quick and easy and tastes even better as you make it the way you like it. :)
The best burgers are homemade no question about it …think I know what I’m cooking tonight now
How anyone can eat that frozen sh1t is beyond me. Saying they are affordable is just a lazy excuse
Fact. Even you use the cheap 20% fat mince in your homemade burgers, you still end up with a healthier and more traceable burger than anything processed or off the shelf!!
Why people eat processed food in the first place is beyond me
It’s not good for ya folks
I used to use weetabix instead of breadcrumbs for the binder. Fantastic texture to the beef patty.
And do you have your own farm and cows? As otherwise you can’t tell what meat you’re using / what was animal fed etc.? That’s about your burgers from “scratch” I’m afraid.
Quick, cheap, usually decent tasting…?
I still buy them. Even if there was horse meat in them sure a but of horse isn’t gonna kill ya.
I still buy em. That’s *neigh* true! I’ll get my coat…
Blessing in disguise, the controversy increased peoples awareness of what was going into their bodies. The people of this country are better off if they take matters into their own hands and prepared food with the raw materials themselves. Overall their is a shocking lack of knowledge of even how the most simple of meals are made.
Hence part of the reason 100 job loses in Tipperary announced….
I gets my burgers from the local horse ranch..giddy up.
Why would anybody but that frozen meat patty crap, when you can crack an egg into a bit of fresh mince and make ur own burgers in minutes 100 times nicer than that frozen plastic muck!
Horse meat is fine, Iv had it, but I was told what I was about to order! Sure thirty odd years ago a chipper in D12 area (now long gone) used to sell batter burgers made of dog food and was caught. People used to love them….specially after a feed of pints!
will the river of mince ever end?
Never have eaten frozen burgers,will only eat fresh if the origin is known,if not, i just wont eat,and that goes for most meats.
well certainly not my flat mate, they’d eat shite and well turns out they do look the worse for wear.
I always make my own. Any processed meat that comes out of a box cant be good.
What a shame. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. It leads to the most stupid and damaging overreactions.
The most silly example of this was the Capuchin shelter in Dublin throwing out all of their burgers (many of which would have been kindly donated by members of the public, and gratefully eaten by visitors to the shelter) which they could have given to the needy and which would have done those who ate them not a fraction of harm at all.
Also, how many jobs will be lost in Irish meat factories because of the largely uninformed (a little knowledge being a dangerous thing), negative overreaction of Irish consumers?
That one in the photo needs to go in the freezer pronto before it thaws.
No regulation was to be expected.
Banana republic.
Sure the simple reason why people by less frozen burgers is the fact that most chains don’t carry them no more or in very limited quantities. Great research that is!
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