(Limerick West): I am well aware of the proceedings of the international conference on the mid-term review of the Common Fisheries Policy, which was organised by Sherkin Island Marine Station and held in Cork on 11 and 12 May 1991. This conference was supported by my Department and BIM and a major paper was delivered by the Minister at the conference.
Many themes were raised at the conference and the benefits, costs, strengths and weaknesses of the Common Fisheries Policy as an instrument of management, both generally and from an Irish perspective, were discussed.
As regards the impact of the Common Fisheries Policy on the Irish fishing industry, while the benefits were noted, two important recurring views for Irish speakers were to the effect that existing policy was hindering the take-up of unused Irish quotas and that the basic allocations available to Ireland are inequitable.
These are issues which I am already pursuing with the Community in the context of the review and otherwise. In this regard, I look forward with interest to receiving the views of the top level advisory group, under the chairmanship of Dr. T. K. Whitaker, which I have established to advise me on the matter of the review generally. The report of this group is expected within the next month or so and I would not like to pre-empt their findings by making a more detailed statement at this point.