Ms Sinéad McSherry:

I thank the Deputy. I will first take the piece on the ICES advice published recently. It is extremely concerning. We spent the afternoon with the fishing industry looking at the impacts of this advice. Regarding the Deputy's question on Ireland using a veto, as the Deputy knows, the fishing opportunities regulation is a qualified majority vote situation, so we cannot exercise a veto.

On the EU-Norway negotiations, to be clear, the EU negotiates with third countries. Ireland does not negotiate directly with Norway. Regarding the annual EU-Norway negotiations, these talks basically concern a transfer of blue whiting quota to Norway to pay for other fishing opportunities the EU is seeking. Again, what is really critical for Ireland in this context is the level of access to EU waters and especially access to Ireland. We do not have an agreement on mackerel. The activities and overfishing of the stocks by third countries is something the Minister has called out regularly. Equally, he has called for the application of all the levers the EU has at its disposal.

What was a new development was the amendment to EU Regulation 1026/2012, known as the Faroese regulation, which was designed to address behaviour by states not engaging in sustainable fishing. Regarding Ireland's position in negotiations, the Deputy will understand this is a matter for the Minister. What he has been consistent in has been calling out and identifying the activities of overfishing and its impact on the stock and trying to work with other EU members in addressing these issues.