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

My understanding is that, as the Deputy has rightly outlined, we do not have a national quota on this. At the time when this was being divvied up, there was not a track record of commercial fishing for bluefin tuna. Obviously, that has changed. What we have now is a small bluefin tuna bycatch quota which is available to Ireland, primarily for use in our important Northern Ireland albacore tuna fishery and Celtic Sea herring fishery, when there can be bluefin tuna bycatch. Any changes, as the Deputy has mentioned, would have to be negotiated with our European counterparts, where there would be an element of taking away from other member states in terms of the quotas they have. The role of our Minister is to make sure that we raise these issues and that we engage with our European counterparts. Our objective when it comes to the European Presidency in the next year and a half is to do everything possible to support our agriculture and fishing industries. Where possible changes could take place, that is the place to do it and the place to try to drive it.

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