Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

The Minister will be aware of the issues involved and I support him in his efforts to have this situation in the north-east Atlantic mackerel fishery resolved as soon as possible.

The Faroe Islands and Iceland have a share of north-eastern Atlantic quota for mackerel that was agreed between the nations and the EU at 6% of the total allowable catch in the north-east Atlantic. Unfortunately, they are now harvesting a further 300,000 tonnes per annum over and above the agreement, 45% of the TAC in this fishery, or six times the agreed allowance. Putting that in context, the Irish mackerel quota is about 68,000 tones.

The mackerel fishery is worth €125 million in a €1 billion fishing industry. It is a cause of huge concern for the present industry and, if it continues, the danger exists that the sustainable mackerel stock will be wiped out in the north-east Atlantic because of overfishing by these two nations. The breach of the fisheries agreements may cost the Irish fishing industry between €10 million and €15 million in potential TAC adjustments. Abusing the quotas in this way by breaking all international agreements on mackerel quotas can be regarded only as modern day piracy.

This abuse illustrates an irresponsible and barefaced disregard for the rules set down by the European Union, Faroe Islands and Iceland. This cannot be allowed to go unchecked. If states feel there is no fall-out from breaches of this nature, what incentive is there for them to stay within the guidelines? The situation is detrimental for Irish fishermen.

Last year I called for the resolution of this matter and, in the absence of progress, the adopting of sanctions against the Faroe Islands and Iceland, beginning with trade sanctions at the least. I am now asking the Minister to consider further measures, including the possible suspension of accession talks with Iceland. Five rounds of talks have taken place in the past two years in Clonakilty, London, Brussels, Norway and Iceland but so far very little progress has been made. A sixth round of talks is scheduled for the next ten days and there should be no further trade-off on this issue. It is a smash and grab on limited fish stocks by two countries that have overfished their traditional fishing grounds by ignoring traditional conservation methods. They are taking 1,000 tonnes per day more than they should from sensitive and finely balanced and managed fish stocks. I have called for sanctions to be imposed on these countries since December and I understand the Minister will also press for immediate and hard sanctions against these countries.

An EU-sponsored fish factory is being built on the Faroe Islands capable of processing 1,000 tonnes per day. It is regrettable that negotiations conducted by the Commission are treated with scepticism by Irish fishermen because they are worried about the resolve of the Commission. We need a strong approach to this.

We are entering a new troika on 1 July in advance of Ireland's assumption of the EU Presidency on 1 January 2013. In the next 12 months we will have some power to bring these negotiations to a speedy conclusion, hopefully before we assume the Presidency.

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