Vol. 509 No. 5
61 Mr. Deenihan asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources the status of the Government's case to the European Court of Justice in support of tuna fisherman against the EU decision to ban drift netting for tuna; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20734/99]
Following representations from Irish tuna fishermen I secured the Government's approval to intervene in support of the case taken by the French tuna industry against the driftnet ban.
I am pleased to say that the Irish Government's intervention was filed with the European Court of Justice before the 31 August, 1999 deadline. Only two other interventions in support of the French tuna fishermen were filed with the court before the deadline. These were lodged by the French Government and fishermen from the Commune de l'Ile d'Yeu.
