Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for that question. I am flying to Brussels this evening and am to meet the Fisheries Commissioner tomorrow. I have not yet met her but would like to do so. I have met the Agriculture Commissioner. The Common Fisheries Policy review is very important for Ireland. It must not be in the political shadow of the Common Agricultural Policy review, which is happening at the same time. Both are very important for their respective sectors. When I was asked to be a Minister, I specifically requested ownership of the fisheries sector because, unfortunately, it has not had representation around the Cabinet table. It needs to be represented, particularly in the context of the review.

The current Commissioner is determined to achieve some progress on the issue of discards. The current approach is not workable for the industry. I have met all the main industry players, including those from Killybegs, Castletownbere and the east coast. They are anxious to make progress on the discards issue but the current proposal on offer from the Commissioner is probably not workable. We will be thrashing out some of the ideas coming from the Irish fisheries sector with her to try to have a pragmatic, workable approach to discards and a system that fishing trawler operators can buy into rather than one that is unrealistic.

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