John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

There is always potential. However, the difficulty lies in securing additional quota. We were obliged to negotiate the best deal for Ireland. For the first time in ten years, we managed to secure substantial increases in respect of a number of species and we managed to retain the same quota for blue whiting as that which obtained in 2006. The latter was quite an achievement. I must acknowledge the contribution of the UK Minister who, at 4 a.m., decided to allocate some of his country's blue whiting quota to Ireland in order that we might retain it at the 2006 level.

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