Mr. Seán O'Donoghue:

I thank the committee for the invitation to attend this meeting on a subject of huge importance for the fishing and seafood industries. As stated by the Chairman, I am making this presentation on behalf of the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation, the Irish Fish Producers Organisation and the Irish South and East Fish Producers Organisation. Before I get into the key issues, it is worth putting in context the implications of Brexit before moving to the problems and issues arising. First, the fisheries sector is unique. It is nothing like the car manufacturing sector where cars are built in one country and not shared with another. We share the fish resource. Second, it is of huge concern to us that fisheries is in the top five priorities in terms of the UK Prime Minister's negotiating strategy. Third, we are hearing in the media every day that we are heading for a hard rather than a soft Brexit. This will have huge implications for the fisheries sector. Fourth, the final deal that will be done between the UK and the EU will be based on qualified majority voting. This means that to enter the community a unanimous vote will be needed but to exit only qualified majority voting will be required. Why am I highlighting this? I am doing so because we can be rolled over by a majority of the other member states in terms of a deal. We need to be conscious of that. A Common Fisheries Policy is in place under the treaty and we have to operate on that basis. I would like to see a bilateral deal between Ireland and the UK on fisheries. I am sure we could do a fantastic deal with the UK but this will not be legally possible as Ireland will be part of the EU. In other words, Ireland cannot negotiate a bilateral deal in this area. That is the context.

The seafood industry is a significant industry which is comprised of many of our coastal rural peripheral areas. It is a €1 billion industry, with a first sale value on the quay side of €500 million and exports of approximately €560 million. There are 11,000 people employed in this sector. I would like now to focus on the key issues for us in terms of Brexit. There are three key issues, two of which could be extremely negative, namely, access and our quota share. As part of the quota share, which I will elaborate on further later, we have a Hague preference dating back to 1976, which was negotiated by the late Dr. Garret FitzGerald. The positive element is the trade area. I will outline the linkage between all three areas at the end of my presentation. While my presentation is short, I hope it will give members a flavour of the real issues and problems we face in terms of Brexit.

On access, the slide which members are now seeing shows the exclusive economic areas of the UK - highlighted in red; the EU waters - highlighted in blue - and other waters, including in Norway and the Faroe Islands and Iceland - highlighted in green. The map shows that in terms of access approximately 35% of the waters are owned by the UK, such that when it leaves with EU it takes that water-access with it.

We need to keep that in the back of our minds.

We have only made an analysis of the 2015 data for the European fleets. We are approximately 31% dependent on access to the UK zone for our stocks which amount to 32% in terms of value. However, that distorts the real problem. There are two economic drivers for the industry, namely, mackerel and Dublin Bay prawns-nephrops. For both we require between 40% and 60% access, depending on the year. These species account for some 70% of the first-sale value of all fish landings.

The second issue is quota shares. I have picked a picture from The Guardianfor members. They will know the person in the front of the picture, but I am more interested in the person at the back, the UK Minister for Fisheries, Mr. George Eustace. The picture dates from 20 October, well after the Brexit vote. He was assuring Scottish fishermen that they would be thousands of tonnes of fish better off after Brexit. If they are, we will lose significantly. The quota share is, therefore, a major problem for Ireland. Of the species included in the total allowable catch and quotas we share 48 with the United Kingdom. In the Brexit negotiations we will be negotiating shares for 48 stocks. Unfortunately, the priority stocks the United Kingdom has in mind include two of ours, namely, mackerel and nephrops.

There is also a problem with the non-TAC and quota species, particularly crab, for which there is no quota but to which we have a lot of access, with up to 40% access for some carp, depending on the year. There will also be a problem with the Hague preferences which date back to 1976 and relate to additional quantities of fish that Ireland and parts of the United Kingdom were given in recognition of the underdeveloped nature of the industry prior to TAC-quotas coming on stream in 1993. We have to keep a very close eye on the Hague preferences because when the United Kingdom leaves, we will no longer have its support in respect of the Common Fisheries Policy. These preferences are always fought over tooth and nail at the December Fisheries Council, but they will no longer apply and we will be on our own when they are being negotiated.

On the United Kingdom's position on quotas, it joined the European Union at the same time as Ireland in 1973, but the negotiations on the sharing of stocks did not start until 1976 and there were six or seven years of negotiations before the sharing of stocks was agreed to in 1983. There was an historical basis for this between 1973 and 1978 and we received a blank cheque which, unfortunately, we could not write at the time. The United Kingdom was a full participant in the process and its underdeveloped parts were given the benefits of the Hague preferences, as Ireland was. The calls of the British for a quota to repair what was done wrong in 1973 have no basis in fact and do not stack up in any analysis. If they have a problem, it is their own fault for not negotiating properly between 1976 and 1983. Ireland also had its opportunity, but it did not take advantage of it.

On trade, the position is positive from our point of view. Imports from the United Kingdom into Ireland were at a figure of €148 million, 65% of total Irish imports of seafood products. In return, we export some €71 million worth of product. Therefore, the difference is a factor of two. The figure amounts to about 13% of our seafood exports. The United Kingdom is hugely dependent on the EU market for almost 70% of the value, equating to a sum of €1.34 billion. Four key products account for approximately 70% of that figure, namely, salmon, nephrops or Norway lobster, scallops and crab. This is the real issue.

The message the three producer networks want to give to members is that this needs to become a priority for the Government. We do not believe it is nearly as high on the list of priorities as it should be because we are in a unique position in sharing a resource. The entire Government and the Taoiseach need to get involved. The Taoiseach has been on various missions with counterparts across Europe and met the Spanish Prime Minister last week or the week before. I very much doubt if fisheries were on the agenda, but they should be, as otherwise we stand to lose a lot.

We stress that in the negotiations there has to be a link between access and quotas - the fisheries aspect of the issue - and trade. If they are separated, we will be in a disaster zone and the game will be over for us.

We must also make every effort to protect and enhance our Hague preferences. This has to be part of the negotiating strategy. In the past, when negotiating shares and access, fisheries were used as a bargaining chip. Fisheries should not be used in this way. In fact, in terms of fisheries, the overall trade situation needs to be used as the bargaining chip.

We must avoid a cliff fall. By that, I mean that the UK may have exited the EU in two years time but we may not have an agreement in place. Will that mean that the shutters are pulled down and that from a fisheries perspective we end up, given that we are sharing a resource, with no access for a year or two to the UK waters or they to ours? That would be another disaster for us. We need to ensure that any transitional arrangement recognises fisheries. We cannot have a falling off the cliff.

The seafood industry needs to be part and parcel of the negotiating team. The Minister is holding a stakeholder meeting next week, which is fine, but we need to be front and centre in the negotiations over the next 18 months.

I thank the members for listening.