Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 27 April 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs

EU Protocol on Northern Ireland-Ireland: Engagement with the Minister for Foreign Affairs

Photo of John BradyJohn Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his opening statement and for answering questions members wished to put to him. I want to home in on two specific areas. The majority of people in the north of Ireland voted against leaving the EU, and this is widely acknowledged. Many view the Irish peace process as a European success story. I agree with the Minister's comments on how the Good Friday Agreement is like our northern star and that it is critical we protect all the institutions. That must be foremost in all our actions going forward. The trade and cooperation agreement offers protections to the peace process by providing special status for the North. However, there is the question of the resulting democratic deficit that has been part of the fallout from the entire process, and whereby we see elected representatives in the North having no role or voice in shaping legislation that they are now essentially bound by. There is a major role for the Minister and Government in calling for, advocating and, indeed, negotiating for dialogue between the EU and elected public representatives and civic society in the North. It is also important the EU be made to understand this dialogue is important and will contribute to reducing the tensions we have unfortunately seen being played out on the streets of the North in recent weeks, and in offering an opportunity for the people of this island to define their future with the EU together. On that democratic deficit, what role does the Minister see being put in place to ensure the voices of political leaders, parties and civic society in the North can be heard within the EU, in terms of helping to shape the EU legislation they will ultimately be bound by?

I raise also the issue of fishing. It was one of the most contentious issues and probably held up much of the discussions as well as the final agreement. From some of our previous engagements, the Minister indicated this was one of the areas he had hoped would be addressed first and was not foreseen to be one of the issues that would cause the most difficulty. The fisheries element of the TCA is an absolute mess. It is a bad deal for Ireland. According to the figures, the new agreement provides for a 25% aggregate reduction over the next five and a half years, of the quotas available to the EU 27 fishing fleet in UK waters. The Irish fleet takes approximately 34% of its landings from UK waters so it is obviously going to have significant fallout for our fishing fleet. It is estimated that there will be a loss of in the region of €43 million, in quota share, by 2026. There is a real threat Irish trawlers will have to be decommissioned due to the lack of access to British fishing waters. The Government must take a number of actions immediately. It must engage directly with the British Government on the issue if it has not done so. There must be bilateral discussions on access by Irish trawlers to British waters. We must reopen the discussion on the subject of quotas for Irish fishing in general. The quota for Irish trawlers must be increased within Irish waters to compensate for the loss of income due to the agreement. There is also the issue of adequate compensation, and not just for the fishing industry itself but for our coastal and inland communities. The amount being offered through the Brexit adjustment fund is quite simply not sufficient to compensate for the damage that will be done due to what is being asked of our communities. Therefore, what actions will the Government take to deal with the huge fallout for the fishing industry in Ireland? Will it consider holding bilateral talks with the British with a view to gaining more access for the Irish fishing fleet to British fishing waters? Then there is the issue of compensation. This is about our coastal and island communities but it is also broader than that; it is about their livelihoods and the fallout for entire communities as well.

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