Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy pointed out, I held a public consultation on the review of trawling activity inside the six-nautical-mile zone and the baselines. The consultation took place over eight weeks and closed on 12 April. The purpose of this consultation was to invite stakeholders and interested parties to advise me of their views on any changes to policy within the scope of the review. A large volume of submissions - more than 5,000 of them - were received. These submissions will be used to inform my review of trawling activity inside the six-nautical-mile zone and baselines. Over the past few months, my Department has been in the process of analysing the submissions. All relevant issues must be carefully considered before a decision can be made. The consultation was taken without prejudice.

The Deputy referred to the history of this. In 2018 a transition period was put in place to ban vessels of more than 18 m from trawling in inshore waters. The ban was announced at that stage but, subsequently, legal proceedings saw it overturned. An outcome of the legal proceedings was received last year and, following on from that, I commenced this new consultation. I am very committed to pursuing this issue.

The Deputy will understand the amount of work involved in the context of the large number of submissions. From the history of this, the Deputy will also understand the importance of making sure that each step is taken with assurance because of the potential for a judicial review, as happened the last time. It is now more than six years since the ban was introduced. There are significant issues there regarding inshore fisheries and making sure the stocks are properly and sustainably managed. My team continues to work on it. I do not have a timeline but I have them working as hard as possible to go through the 5,000 submissions and to net out and crystallise the different legal considerations in order that I can take it forward. I am very committed to making sure this is stepped forward as quickly as possible.

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