Ms Sinéad McSherry:

I ask the Senator to bear with me. I am trying to find my sheet with the negotiations timetable on it. The first round of negotiations between the EU, UK and Norway will be held in Brussels between 4 and 7 November. There will be another round between 25 and 28 November in Oslo. On the EU-Norway negotiations, the first round will be held from 28 to 31 October in Oslo, and the second round will be held between 18 and 21 November in Madrid. Those are the formalities around the negotiations and the timelines.

With regard to the new Commissioner, the appointments are within the process and the system. The biggest issue with regard to the EU and Norway will arise from the impact of the advice this year on mackerel. It speaks not only to Norway but a number of third countries and their activities. The tone across member states is that they are very concerned. As I said, we just spent the afternoon with our own industry looking at the impact of this. The Commission has taken a hard line with regard to calling out and identifying the activities of third countries. Equally, there are strong calls across the board for the Commission to take action in whatever way it can, including in respect of certain trade actions, to combat the activities. These are very much political pieces and decisions but that is the mood.