Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

No. There is no mandate for discussions and no mandate to proceed to any negotiation here. There have been informal discussions between the European Commission and Iceland, which is often the case, but nothing can proceed unless a mandate is provided by European Union member states to the Commission to proceed with negotiations. As I said, I have been the only Minister who has been forthrightly refusing to provide a mandate because I have set very clear outlines under which any negotiation would take place. They would need to respect our waters and, if any negotiation were to take place, see us get significantly increased quotas, which others will not agree to.

For that reason, no mandate has been agreed.

See this speech in context