Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)

Another issue, one which probably plays into the marine protected areas, is the fact that the Government has never made used of Article 17 to recognise that it can allocate quotas on a prioritised basis from a cultural and heritage perspective. Should the Government do that? Given that we are very controlled by Europe in how we manage our fisheries, it seems to be a missed opportunity that here is an article that specifically allows the Irish Government to do something beneficial for low impact fishers. I ask the witnesses to comment on that.