Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)

I welcome this virtual Department. It is important to bring those different elements together. I look forward to working with the Minister of State on that.

On the MPA legislation, I welcome that I received confirmation this week that it would remain a stand-alone Bill. There were concerns it would just be amending legislation or perhaps be used as the DMAP process. It is expected to come through the Dáil towards the end of the year. When does the Minister of State envisage that remit will move over to this committee? Obviously, that would be a large item we will look at.

Something that is adjacent to the EU-UK deal, in that it is another deal with a third party, is a potential deal between the EU and Iceland. Concerns about this have been raised with me. Is there any information on that? It has been raised at a number of different points but I do not think there has been any confirmation on it.

There is also the issue of sprat. Obviously, it is a time-sensitive issue because the fishing season will be in September. Where is the consultation on the management of that fishery?