Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Martin for raising this issue because I have spent considerable time during the Irish Presidency on brokering a deal with the European Parliament, the Commission and other member states which would radically reform the way in which Europe's fishing fleet fishes, link science in a real way with the calculation of quotas and total allowable catches each year and ensure we are fishing stocks as commercially as we can in terms of maximising catches while at the same time protecting stocks. I am a strong defender of the CFP reform we have agreed and so too is Deputy Martin's colleague from County Donegal, Pat the Cope Gallagher, MEP who voted this morning in favour of this reform in the PECH committee of the European Parliament. The vote was 20 to one in favour of the reform and the only MEP to vote against it was from the far left and was never going to vote for it in any event. For the first time ever the Spanish fishing industry, which has the largest commercial fleet in the European Union, the Spanish Government and the Green Party in the Parliament, which is the strongest advocate of NGO concerns about sustainability, are all in favour of a CFP reform that Deputy Martin suggests is a bad deal.

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