Mr. John Lynch:

I thank the Chairman for the invitation to speak at this evening's meeting. It is much appreciated. I support what my colleagues have said. They have covered most of the subjects we want to deal with very well. On the process of setting the fishing opportunities for 2022, as Mr. O'Donoghue has pointed out, the whole landscape has changed after Brexit and the trade and co-operation agreement, TCA. We are now dependent on EU-UK negotiations. Our input is probably late at this stage. We feel that the process needs to be somewhat changed for the future, perhaps starting with stakeholder involvement at an earlier stage.

On the Common Fisheries Policy, CFP, we feel that a full review and reform is needed. The last time we were in this meeting room, we were looking for burden sharing in light of the effects of the TCA and the loss of a great amount of quota in that agreement. To this day, we have not had one kilo of fish returned to Ireland through burden sharing by our European partners. This is really a big concern for the industry in Ireland.

With regard to negotiations on total allowable catches, TACs, and quotas, in the statement I sent to the committee, I pointed out the species in respect of which the science is quite good or, in some cases, very good. I will not go through them all here because there is no point. Despite the science, the TACs for these species are down for relatively large and, in some cases, very large reductions. We have signed up to follow the science but the science is not being followed if account is not being taken of the scientific information available that shows positive indicators for stocks and if the Commission is still seeking reductions in TACs. That should be adjusted to correctly reflect the scientific situation.

On decommissioning, as my colleagues have mentioned, this issue was discussed at length in the task force. We have a problem with the discounts for the age of vessels because all vessels now have to have a safety certificate signed off by the MSO, as Mr. Murphy pointed out. This requires vessels to be kept up to a very high standard so all vessels going to sea in Ireland are of a very high standard. This is absolutely correct. The vessels are of a high safety standard, which is exactly what we want, but this should be reflected in the moneys being paid for decommissioning. These people are giving up their livelihoods through no fault of their own. It is because of the loss of quota under the TCA that we are told this has to happen. As we pointed out, we would much prefer to have our quota returned or our share adjusted under the relative stability principle to reflect fairness in fishing opportunities, but that will not come until after the proposed decommissioning programme.

On the issue of Norway unilaterally declaring a quota for mackerel in 2021, we have been arguing over this for many months now. We support the Killybegs Fishermens Organisation's position. The Commission needs to take action to resolve this or it will continue or even get worse. It may also expand to other countries. I will finish on that. I thank the Chairman very much for this opportunity.