Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. In the event of a no-deal Brexit, the fisheries sector is high likely to be a very fractious manifestation of a hard Brexit. Our exposure to UK fishing waters is quite pronounced in terms of our most valuable stock, 60% of which is caught in UK waters along with 40% of our second most valuable stock. One third of our overall fishing effort takes place in UK territorial waters so a no-deal Brexit is a real challenge for the sector. As a consequence, under the budget, a provision in tranche one, and I emphasise that it is in tranche one, of the €650 million project involves an identification of the fishing industry as being in need of a significant financial assistance. I am also working at EU level with eight like-minded member states that share our analysis of the fishing industry and have been informing the Barnier task force in terms of ensuring we inextricably link the resolution of the broader trade environment with the fishing industry so it is part of the overall resolution, rather being dealt with on a silo basis.

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