Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 July 2021
454. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the measures the Government has undertaken to oppose or reverse the European Commission decision to revoke approval of Ireland's weighing control plan. [38343/21]
View answerI should state at the outset that the strict legal position in relation to the revocation of Ireland’s control plan is that the monitoring and control of fishing vessels within Ireland’s Exclusive Fisheries Zone are matters for the Irish control authorities. Under the Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act, 2006, all operational issues of this nature are exclusively for the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) and the Naval Service. I am expressly precluded from getting involved in operational matters such as this.
In the context of an Administrative Inquiry conducted under Article 102(2) of the 2009 EU Fisheries Control Regulation, Ireland was notified in April 2021 of a Commission Implementing Decision revoking the approval of the Irish control plan submitted for the weighing of fishery products.
It should be noted that the 2012 Control Plan, prior to its revocation, provided that the Irish authorities may have permitted fisheries products to be weighed by relevant operators after transport from the place of landing provided that they were transported to a destination on the territory of Ireland, as the Member State concerned.
The SFPA has advised me that, following a public consultation on a revised Control Plan for submission to the EU Commission, the Authority has decided that the plan will cover all landings, including bulk pelagic landings. The Authority advise that it is prioritising the development of this revised plan to ensure that it addresses the specific risks that have already been identified and led to the Commission’s decision to revoke the previous plan and provides enhanced controls in that regard. The SFPA has advised that this work is likely to take a number of months before a submission is made to the Commission.
