Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I will outline the Irish and EU approach to negotiations. It is clear that if we are to make progress on an overall trade deal, progress must be made on fisheries. It is an extremely important issue for us, other member states and the chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, who was a fisheries minister and has made every effort to engage with our sectors, industries and representative groups and those across all member states that will be impacted.

Ireland's main goal and objective is to protect the interests of the Irish fleet, its access to British waters and the quota share it currently enjoys in those waters. The overall EU position seeks to uphold continued levels of reciprocal access and stable quotas. As the Deputy pointed out, the UK is taking a different approach. It continues to stress it is a coastal independent state and seeks an agreement under which a new deal would be negotiated every year. We hear that one of the reasons people voted for Brexit was to move away from red tape and these kinds of challenging issues, paperwork and having to negotiate so many deals. The idea that a fishing deal would be negotiated every year does not make sense to me or much of the negotiating team. We need the UK and EU to come together, use their best endeavours and try to conclude and ratify a new fisheries agreement by the end of this year. We will do everything in our power to ensure that Irish interests are represented in that regard.

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