Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As a Deputy from a coastal county, no more so than Deputy Mac Lochlainn, protecting and trying to ensure the welfare and incomes of our fishermen is very important to me. That has never been more the case than at the moment in the context of the Brexit negotiations and the very solid and forthright campaign we have mounted working with our European maritime nation partners to try to ensure a good outcome from Brexit in terms of access to British waters and of maintaining our quota share.

The specific issue the Deputy raised, as I pointed out to him, concerns a European competence. If there are to be changes, they will have to be at European level and to apply to all European waters, not just outside of the Irish 12-mile zone. These vessels are precluded from entering the Irish 12-mile zone and that will continue into the future. As for developing the proposal further as part of the next Common Fisheries Policy, the Deputy will have to give thought to whether he proposes that this would apply to Irish vessels of similar catching capacity, of which there are many in our domestic fleet.

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