As the Deputy will be aware, under the basic regulation on the management and conservation of fishery resources in Community waters—Council Regulation No. 170/83 — the EC Commission was required to present a report to the Council on the fisheries sector before the end of 1991. That report was circulated in December last. The purpose of the report is to stimulate discussion and to provide guidance for a debate in the various Community institutions prior to the tabling by the Commission in 1992 of proposals for the regulation of the fisheries sector in the period 1993-2002.
In the Commission's extensive report, at present being considered by a Council working group, there is clear acknowledgement of the need for special attention and concentrated support from Community resources and instruments to improving economic and social cohesion in the Community's more remote regions where fishing accounts for a substantial proportion of jobs and income.
During the coming discussions on the Common Fisheries Policy review at the Council of Fisheries Ministers, I will be pressing the Commission — as part of Ireland's case for a better deal in fishing — to bring forward specific and meaningful proposals that will reflect, in relation to the fisheries sector, the Treaty commitments on cohesion.
I am encouraged by the report's commitment to economic and social cohesion in the context of disadvantaged fishing communities. Ireland, as an Objective 1 region, in which significant sectors of the fishing industry are considerably under-developed, should be entitled to priority treatment under any measures designed to bring about cohesion.