Ms Sin?ad McSherry:

I thank the Deputy.

The Deputy will be aware that the Minister is responsible for those negotiations. To address the issue the Deputy raised specifically, this issue relates to a TAC of mackerel in Norwegian waters which are in areas IIa and IVa in the North Sea. Those areas were historically available to Denmark only. This TAC only existed as part of bilateral agreement between the EU and Norway where there was a transfer of mackerel from the EU western waters to Norway and a reciprocal transfer from Norway to the EU of fishing opportunities in Norwegian waters of IIa and IVa. The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, first raised this issue at AGRIFISH in October 2021 and his question was how this TAC could continue in the absence of a bilateral agreement between the EU and Norway on mackerel. As we have said, Ireland sought an in-depth analysis and the Commission then confirmed Ireland's assessment that in the absence of an EU-Norway agreement on mackerel, there was no basis for that original TAC. The resolution to this was secured in 2023 and while Ireland and Denmark where significant stakeholders in this, it was equally important that any solution arising from the Commission's legal analysis had to be agreed at Council and voted upon. These are considerations that the Minister had to take into account.

To reiterate, this is a decision and a negotiation by the Minister. The Deputy refers to Denmark offering a once-off, not-to-be-repeated amount mackerel as part of this solution. This solution would have needed to be agreed by all member states at the Council under qualified majority voting, QMV. Therefore, the issue considered by the Minister was a once-off offer or securing a long-term, permanent allocation of this TAC for western waters, of which Ireland is the biggest shareholder; we have 50% of the western water's mackerel TAC. These are some of the considerations that he had to take into account.

In relation to the Minister and his negotiating position, I have set out some of the considerations he has had to take into account. The most important point is that the Danish proposal was one that would have had to be agreed by all member states. This was not a matter for Denmark to give, as this is within the greater circle. It would have had to be agreed. The Minister took his decision and negotiated what he saw was a long-term viable solution for Ireland.