Mr. Brendan Byrne:

I admit we are a small country, but we must not lose sight of the fact that Ireland contributes 12% of the EU fishing grants or the fact that the viability of the Dutch, Belgian, French and Spanish fleets depends in large part on Irish fishing grants. That is what we bring to the table. Historically, we have not appreciated as a country what we are contributing to the EU in terms of fishing. We were defeatist or certainly we failed to value what we had when we were at the negotiating table for fisheries. That is the history of it. Even beyond our fellow member states that I outlined, we also contribute fishing opportunities to Norway. Meanwhile, our own fleet is suffering. There needs to be a whole in-depth argument, and that is where this committee - and this is the first time we have had a fisheries-focused committee in I think 20 years - needs to drill down into what Ireland is really contributing. Small country that we are, we are a major player in terms of fishing opportunity.

I will give the Iceland questions to Mr. Lynch.