Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 March 2021
1036. Deputy Michael Collins asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide a copy of the policy position paper on fisheries prior to entering the fisheries element of the Brexit negotiations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11135/21]
View answerFrom the outset of the EU/UK negotiations on a future relationship, Ireland and our EU partners were very clear on our level of ambition on fisheries and on the fact that progress on an overall trade deal was linked to progress on fisheries. We were seeking to protect the interests of the Irish fleet in terms of both quota share and access to UK waters. This was reflected in the EU negotiation mandate and the draft EU legal text. This Government, and the previous Government, fully supported the EU negotiating mandate to maintain quota shares and current access going forward.
In the period after I took office, I together with Fisheries Ministers from the most impacted Member States, held meetings with both Michel Barnier and the Fisheries Commissioner, Virginijus Sinkevicius by video link. At these meetings I made it clear to both Mr Barnier and the Commissioner that we were placing our full reliance on them to deliver a deal that protected the Irish fishing industry and the coastal communities dependant on fishing.
As you are fully aware, fisheries was one of the most difficult areas of the negotiations. The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement sets out new arrangements for the joint management of more than 100 shared fish stocks in EU and UK waters. Under the Agreement, EU fishing vessels will continue to have the current level of access to UK waters at least until 2026, with quota transfers from the EU to the UK across the different stocks over that time.
Fisheries was an extremely important priority for Ireland and the EU as a whole in the negotiations with the UK. The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement will unfortunately have an impact on the Irish fishing industry. However, this impact would have been far greater had the Barnier Task Force agreed to UK demands, or had we been in a no deal scenario which would have seen all EU vessels barred from UK waters, and the subsequent displacement into Ireland's fishing zone.
