Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The challenge on the fisheries side is particularly acute because we compete for the resource across the European Union. Much of the competition for the fishing resource is in UK territorial waters. In the event of a hard Brexit and we are locked out of UK territorial waters, displacement of fishing effort into the remaining EU waters, particularly off our west coast, would be intense and yet quotas would not rise. So displacement and quota share are critical issues.

We catch about 40% by volume in UK territorial waters and approximately the same in value terms. In a worst case scenario, it would be a disaster for the Irish fishing industry. In the negotiations we are attempting strategically to link the fisheries sector into the wider trade negotiations. If these negotiations are conducted on a silo basis where fisheries are dealt with in a stand-alone basis, the UK would have a very strong hand. However, it requires market access to the European Union for 70% of its produce. That is not as strong a card for us to play as one might think.

In the context of the worst-case scenario to which Deputy D'Arcy alluded previously, WTO tariffs on fisheries are at such a low level that it would not have a material impact if the UK were to have access to the EU market subject to those tariffs. We are trying to create a common platform on the fisheries issue and I have engaged in numerous bilateral meetings to that end with counterparts from like-minded member states. At the December Council, we will fight to the nth degree for a single fishery for the Irish fishing industry but, at the same time, there are Brexit-related fisheries issues in respect of which Ireland and the remaining member states have a common interest. I am trying to forge an alliance of like-minded member states to take a common position with the Barnier negotiating team to protect our interests. As I said, it is 40% by volume but if one takes some of the most valuable fisheries like scallops and pelagics, we are talking about 45% and almost 60%, respectively, in value terms. They are the two biggest ones for Ireland so it would be a huge loss in terms of what we catch in UK waters in the worst-case scenario. We are strategically involved in negotiations at a political and technical level with other member states.