Ms Norah Parke:

The main point is that the division of resources came about through a well-tested and long-standing process regarding how fisheries develop and quotas are allocated on a national basis. It goes back to the very start of pelagic fisheries before the 1970s. The boats then were relatively small and those based in the north west were those which put the most effort into the process. They increased the size of their vessels and, as a result, were able to catch more fish. In the early 1970s, when it became a quotas species, they had a track record and had built up Ireland's right to a share of the EU quota. It was not a case of them saying that they were having it all. Rather, that was the way things were done. A formula was applied, and that is what still stands there now.