Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Fisheries has been a major topic of discussion over the last couple of weeks involving all the member states and the EU institutions. Access for our fishermen to UK waters is extremely valuable. Some 30% or 40% of all the fish our fishermen take out of the sea are taken from British waters. Indeed, some of the most valuable fish such as mackerel and prawns are taken by Irish trawlers from UK waters. I often hear the narrative that Irish fisheries were sold out when we joined the European Union but, in fact, we take a huge amount of our fish from UK waters and, like the French, Dutch, Belgians and Spanish, we wish to continue to have access to those waters after Brexit. Nothing will change during the transition period but during that period it will be necessary to negotiate a future relationship which would include issues such as fisheries. Obviously, we will want to continue to have access to UK waters while the UK will want to continue to sell its fish to the European Union. The UK will want other things as well, for example, with regard to financial services. It will also want access to European markets and to have an open skies agreement for aviation. All these matters are interlinked and will be part of the future relationship-----

See this speech in context