Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

For the purposes of clarity, I would like to inform the House of what the proposed sanctions entail. The EU Commission has proposed a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council which would allow for the introduction of trade sanctions against third countries that engage in irresponsible or illegal fishing activities which may lead to the depletion of EU fish stocks. The sanctions proposed would include restrictions on the importation into the EU of fish and fishery products from offending states, restrictions on the use of EU ports by vessels from offending states, prohibition on the sale and purchase of fishing vessels between EU member states and offending states and prohibition of trade agreements between nationals of an EU member state and nationals of offending states. It could be argued that we should go even further.

I am not the kind of politician who calls for trade sanctions against countries that have a lot in common with Ireland. These countries, like Ireland, are islands in the north Atlantic. I hope Iceland successfully joins the EU at some stage in the future. I hope we will be able to work with Iceland on a series of issues of mutual interest and concern. Iceland and the Faroe Islands are acting irresponsibly on this issue. They are damaging a hugely valuable stock. In my view, they are threatening the viability of our fishing industry, which has worked hard to protect and rebuild this stock. We should respond in a way that is consistent with the responsible management of a valuable stock. The EU needs to show a bit of muscle, in terms of its scale, on this issue. Unfortunately, we are currently facilitating the causing of significant damage to a valuable fish stock, which is the heartbeat of the Irish fishing industry, particularly in the north west and south west.

See this speech in context