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

I suggest the Deputy should examine the detail of the reform.

I would always like more consultation with the fishing industry. It is true that it has been a while since I toured many of the fisheries harbours and I will do so again over the summer months. It is untrue to say that I do not have ongoing contact with fisheries organisations, whether from the south and west, Killybegs, the south and east or the Irish Sea. We meet regularly. We meet in Brussels, Luxembourg or Dublin in advance of almost every Council meeting dealing with fisheries issues. I cannot be accused of being a Minister who is not easy to contact.

On the substantive reform of CFP and ending the discarding of fish, we currently have an indefensible situation whereby between 400,000 tonnes and 500,000 tonnes of dead fish are dumped in Irish waters annually because fishing vessels do not have quotas to land them. We are ending that procedure by putting in place the flexibility to allow fishing fleets to operate in a way that makes commercial and practical sense. We have had significant input from the fishing industry. This is why, after political agreement was reached on CFP reform, Sean O'Donoghue and others came home and sold it. In the coming weeks we will put in place a stakeholders' group led by fishermen to draw up an implementation plan for the discards ban, or the obligation to land as it is known. Fishermen will be directly involved in the implementation of this radical reform. It makes sense for them because it will build up stocks and it makes sense for the stocks themselves that Irish waters remain fertile grounds for fishing.

See this speech in context