Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

In his contribution, the Minister of State told Members about the saga of illegal, unreported and unregulated, IUU, fishing and that the Luxembourg meeting will take place on 23 June. Is the European Union serious about tackling the issue of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing? Short of stating and acknowledging the problem, is the Government going into that meeting with a serious view on this problem? It seems it is costing Irish and other European Union fishermen billions of euro annually because of the international nature of the problem. This matter must be taken up at the WTO. It must be taken up seriously at Irish level because it is taking food from the mouths of fishermen and is having an impact on a sector of our economy and society that could do very well, were this problem targeted in an effective manner.

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