Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It was surprising that the issue of Rockall was not raised during the recent meeting between the Taoiseach and the First Minister of Scotland. Was the Taoiseach briefed on this issue in advance? Was he aware of the Scottish position on Rockall and their efforts to raise it with the Government in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum? We know that there were extensive discussions on fishing rights between Scotland and Ireland. Why were Irish fishing representatives not aware of these ongoing exchanges? I attend the very useful Brexit stakeholder fora which are held frequently. The representative of the Irish fishing industry attends those fora and it has never been an issue that was raised. It came out of the blue.

The First Minister of Scotland has said that: "Ireland is Scotland's closest international trading partner," and stressed that "we must strengthen, not strain these bonds." If the hard line set out by a variety of Scottish Government spokespeople is persisted with, what does the Taoiseach intend to do to protect Irish fishermen who have fished in the waters surrounding Rockall for decades?

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