Mr. Gerard Kelly:

In practice, it worked. There were no Irish fishermen looking for the agreement to be in place because they were not getting anything from it. As I said, we were swopping a horse for a rabbit. We really were getting nothing out of it. The mussel fishery in Northern Ireland was open for as little as 6 hours a day. In the Republic of Ireland it was open for days and weeks. The level of fishing activity in Northern Ireland was extremely minimal. In terms of tonnage, some years the mussel fishery was not open because those in the North said it had none, yet vessels were still coming from there to fish here. There was supposedly a reciprocal fishing arrangement when it had nothing to offer.