Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, on the timeline, it is our hope and reasonable expectation that there will be an agreement. It is highly important for the country and for the fisheries sector because without an agreement, access and the quota share will become major issues. Therefore, reaching an agreement is really important and hopefully it will be completed shortly. If the negotiations are continue up to the 15 and 16 December, it will make it significantly more difficult to reach a conclusion in terms of ensuring that negotiations are completed in a manner that allows preparations to be made. It is not an ideal situation, as we do not have clarity on the issue going into the decision-making for next year and that is why we have based the assessment to date on the ICES advice to be able make some preparations. On the mackerel issue, I will ask Dr. Beamish to comment on that. I can confirm that it is an entirely internal allocation.