Mr. Se?n O'Donoghue:

I thank the Chair for inviting us to this meeting on a subject that is very important subject to us, namely, the total allowable catches, TACs, and quotas for next year, in addition to decommissioning. I already submitted a full statement, as the Chair said. I hope members had a chance to read it. I will pick out a few key points from it.

As we go into 2023, we are again in the ridiculous position we were in in 2021 and 2022, which is that the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council, to put it mildly, is of little use in setting the final TACs and quotas, as Brexit has changed everything. The EU-UK negotiations are ongoing at present and are scheduled to finish on Friday but, from what we learn, I doubt that will happen. The council meets on Sunday and Monday so we will again have this farce of provisional quotas being set. We brought this up over the past two years. There needs to be a better way of doing business because Brexit has changed everything.

In addition, the backdrop is that we have a fuel crisis, reductions in quotas and the significant effect of Brexit hitting us.

We need assistance to get us through a very turbulent period. We have identified the key problems but more importantly, we have put forward solutions and we hope some of those will be taken on board this year.

On the mackerel issue, we have the ridiculous situation that in 2021 and 2022, the Faroe Islands and Iceland set themselves enormous additional quotas over and above what they should have, putting the stock in jeopardy. There seems to be a complete unwillingness at Commission level to deal with this. We looked for trade sanctions against the Faroes and Norway. They have not happened. If they do not happen, there is a real danger that our key stock will be put in jeopardy.

There are a few other stocks that I want to highlight. We are facing real difficulties regarding pelagic fish for next year because of the effect of Brexit on the mackerel quota. Over the course of 2021 and 2022, we transferred 23,000 tonnes of mackerel, worth €35 million, to the UK. We are going to do the same next year and in the subsequent years. By 2025 we will probably be transferring 20,000 tonnes of mackerel per year and that will stay there indefinitely. This needs to be addressed. There is a small chink in the armour in terms of burden-sharing with the Danish and Norwegian mackerel. The Minister mentioned that this is coming up at the Council. We expect that we will get our fair share of that. It will go in a small way, and I emphasise the word, "small", towards the burden-sharing. However, by no means will it go the full way.

The other issue we have with pelagic stocks is regarding western horse mackerel, which is a key fishery for our pelagic vessels. Unfortunately, the scientific advice for next year is for a zero catch. We will probably end up with a rebuilding plan that was devised by the Pelagic Advisory Council of approximately 15,000 tonnes or 16,000 tonnes, which is about three quarters of what it normally would be. The key issue for us is that there is a big problem with the science. We want to get this benchmarked next year so that we do not end up in the same position for 2024.

Blue whiting is the only good news story on the pelagic side with the 81% increase. The issue here is the EU-Norway negotiations that are ongoing. I have attended for the last few rounds. I should be there today but I decided this committee was really important to attend. We need the balance reduced. More importantly, if there is to be access to the Irish box, there has to be a payment in blue whiting in return from Norway.

Regarding the whitefish sector, we have a difficult situation in the north west with a significant reduction in monkfish. We will likely not get the increase in haddock that we should get. I want to emphasise that the task force recommendations have been accepted by the Minister. However, not one cent of the €433 million has gone to the sector that has been most affected, which is the pelagic sector. That has to rectified without delay.