Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and his officials for coming in today to discuss this in advance of the meeting in the middle of the month. Every year, this fisheries Council has significant impact and importance in respect of the year ahead. A good outcome from it is particularly important for our fisheries sector, the income of our fishermen and for employment. The Minister has outlined particular challenges this year. It is concerning to see in respect of the whitefish sector in particular that a 15% reduction in volume and a value reduction of 14% are proposed, which would be €8 million. I note the BIM assessment has calculated an overall potential impact of 123 full and part-time jobs, as the Minister outlined. Sustainability issues have to be a very important part of the Minister's considerations as well, in that we want to ensure that stocks are there long-term. The Minister has outlined his objective in respect of getting a balanced outcome that tries to ensure, as far as possible, that no damage is done to the value and amount of catch. I wish the Minister well in those negotiations. He has an important role to carry out and it tends to be a very long night for his officials as well. It will be particularly important in trying to ensure that the proposed cuts and the impact they would have on employment are addressed and averted if at all possible. As Deputy Pringle mentioned in respect of the previous ICES advice, it seems that on more than one occasion in recent times, its assessment of levels of stock was off the mark. In respect of mackerel in particular, that led to much reduced income for many of our mackerel fishermen. I would be interested in hearing the Minister's and the Department's perspective on the confidence we have in the current advice coming from the ICES assessments of various stocks.