Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 23 Feb 1999

Vol. 500 No. 7

Written Answers. - Common Fisheries Policy.

Michael Finucane

Ceist:

130 Mr. Finucane asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources the number of times there has been a review of the Common Fisheries Policy; the exact dates of when these reviews took place; the Ministers who projected the Irish case at these discussions; and the outcome of each review. [5295/99]

Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources (Dr. Woods)

The current Common Fisheries Policy regime was adopted by Council Regulation in 1983 to the end of 2002 with provision for a mid-term review in 1992.

The Irish negotiating position on the mid-term review was informed by detailed consultation with the fishing industry, and the 1991 Report of the Advisory Group on the CFP Review established by the then Tánaiste and Minister for the Marine, John Wilson, as well as the report by the Oireachtas Committee on Secondary Legislation.

As Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, I began the negotiating process by tabling to the Fisheries Council in April 1992 a memorandum highlighting the issues of critical importance to Ireland in the mid-term review and continued to press the Irish case up to the end of the year.

The outcome of the mid-term review was the adoption in December 1992 of Council Regulation No. 3760/92 establishing a Community system for fisheries and aquaculture. The regulation explicitly assimilated the concept of sustainable development. It also included an equally explicit commitment to relative stability, including the Hague Preference, to the restriction on access within the 12 miles, to technical conservation initiatives, to the need for an enhanced Community control system and to the restructuring of the industry to bring capacity in line with available resources. The outcome of the review also produced for the first time and under Irish pressure an explicit acknowledgment by Council that the costs of fisheries protection can fall disproportionately on member states and a commitment that this would be addressed was subsequently delivered on in the EU surveillance package 1994 under which the Irish fisheries protection service has benefited considerably. The retention of the restriction on access to coastal waters was another key objective delivered for Ireland in the review. Fundamental to the Irish position during the negotiations was that under the CFP the overall share of the fish stocks allocated to Ireland fell short of a fair and equitable level and that remains the Government's position as we begin the process of preparation for the CFP Review 2002.