asked the Minister for the Marine if he intends to renegotiate all or any of Ireland's EC fish quotas; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
22.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Fish Quotas.
20.
asked the Minister for the Marine whether he and his Minister of State have received any favourable response from EC Commissioner Cordoso Cunha regarding renegotiation of our 4.6 per cent of total allowable catch.
I propose to take Priority Questions Nos. 20 and 22 together.
As the Deputies are aware, the shares of total allowable catches available to member states are enshrined in the EC Common Fisheries Policy. The quotas for 1987 have already been agreed. Discussions on the 1988 quotas will not take place until late in the year and I will be pressing in these discussions for the maximum level of quotas possible.
I am of course determined to ensure that as far as possible these quotas will allow for the further development of the Irish fishing industry. Already both the Minister and I went to Brussels last month to meet the EC Commissioner for Fisheries. During the discussions, which covered a wide range of issues, we raised the question of the Irish quotas generally with particular emphasis on those species of greatest importance to us. The Commissioner accepted our invitation to visit Ireland and see the situation at first hand for himself. It is expected that that visit will take place sometime during July next and I will be availing of the opportunity to again raise with the Commissioner the issue of the quotas available to Irish fishermen. I would also like to point out that at a recent Council of Ministers meeting, the Minister, Deputy Daly, impressed on his counterparts the difficulties we were experiencing due to lack of an adequate quota.
Will the Minister not accept that the time has come for a review of the Irish quotas? The quotas which have been agreed up to now have not been sufficient. The Minister has referred to his intention to examine specific areas. I ask him to name the species he is talking about and the plans he has formulated and which he will put before our fellow members in the EC?
There is a serious problem as far as pelagic fish are concerned, both mackerel and herring. Our boats have the capacity to catch far more mackerel than the quota allows us to do. I want to pay tribute to our fishermen who deposit some 80 per cent of the catch for processing whereas some of our counterparts in the Community land only some 20 per cent of the mackerel they catch. Because of this we are creating jobs in coastal areas where there are no other employment opportunities. In particular, we will be raising the issue of our mackerel quota as that is the big issue of the moment. Of course, there are problems with regard to the herring quotas in the Celtic Sea area and along the west coast. There are also some species of whitefish involved. We are committed to having a review of the overall structure of quotas.
Will the Minister confirm that when he and the Minister, Deputy Daly, recently met Commissioner Cunha they received a very unfavourable response to their request for an increase in the percentage of the TAC? Is that not the reason Commissioner Cunha has been asked to come to Ireland, more or less as a window-dressing exercise? I do not say that too cynically because there is much he could see and learn about our coastline and our fishing industry. The most important requirement of the fishing industry at present is an increase in our percentage of the TAC. Commissioner Cunha told the Minister of State and his colleagues to forget about it for the foreseeable future and because of that bad news they told him to come over and see it for himself. How does the Minister of State intend to pursue what we all agree to be a most vital interest for this country?
I am beginning to wonder whether I was in Brussels at all and whether I was able to comprehend what the Commissioner stated to us. First of all, we asked the Commissioner to meet with us; our intention was to invite him to visit this country and he responded favourably. Having heard our verbal submission the Commissioner full appreciates the difficulties we are now experiencing. There is no question of any window-dressing as far as we are concerned. We are totally committed to achieving a greater quota for our fishermen. I suggest to Deputy Doyle she should avail of other sources of information in the future. I do not intend to mislead her.
I can assure the Minister of State that my question and information was well sourced. Will he respond to the most important aspect of my question, that the response of Commissioner Cunha was unfavourable in relation to an increase in the percentage of TAC for our fishermen?
I cannot agree that the Commissioner's response was unfavourable in any way. Possibly in the next year we will commence discussions on the overall question of quotas.
Will the Minister not agree that the time has come for us to demand what we require from the EC? If we are going to have a fishing industry in the future, one which is going to be viable and which will be able to expand, the time for laying our cards on the the table is now. There must be results. If we want to have an industry left, the time has come for us to make our demands heard.
1992 will be too late.
In order to make these demands we must first make our case. Last year the industry in conjunction with officials of my Department carried out a survey on mackerel which proved beyond all doubt there are adequate stocks available and we could look for an increase in our TAC. A further survey will be carried out this year and I hope the results of this survey will be available to the Minister and to me prior to any negotiations which will take place in relation to the quotas for 1988. This information is of vital importance to us. We realise there has to be conservation but we also realise that there are ample stocks available. We must convince our friends in ISIS and in the Community that we can increase our percentage without affecting the stocks.