Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 30: To ask the Minister for Agriculture; Fisheries and Food the outcome of his recent meeting in Madrid with the Spanish Fisheries Minister; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7710/11]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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We are back to fishing. I recently accompanied President Mary McAleese on a three day official visit to Spain. During the visit, on 21 March 2011, I arranged a bilateral meeting in Madrid with Rosa Aguilar, Minister of Environment, Rural and Maritime Affairs and who is the Spanish Minister with responsibility for fisheries, to discuss the planned reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, CFP, and to identify areas of mutual interest to both Spain and Ireland. Both countries participate in and rely on similar fisheries and markets for seafood products. Those realities mean we have much in common in striving for an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable fishing sector to 2012 and beyond.

Deputy Daly will be aware of this because he knows his constituents well. We have much of common interest with Spain in terms of the review of the Common Fisheries Policy, but we also disagree with Spain on many things. We were open and blunt about the areas on which we disagree in terms of access to quota, how quotas are managed within countries and whether they are traded or considered a national asset that is distributed by government. The latter is very much the Irish position. Otherwise, one would find that quota would simply be traded out of this country, as has happened in the United Kingdom, which has devastated certain elements of the fishing industry there.

We have common interests as well in terms of ensuring we maximise the volume of money available in the next round of the Common Fisheries Policy and also in other environmental management areas such as fish discards. I have a particular interest in the area. As a Member of the European Parliament I was a member of the fisheries committee. I pushed for a new approach towards discards. Unfortunately, we throw hundreds of thousands of tonnes of dead fish back into the sea each year because of by-catch or quota restrictions and a whole series of other reasons. We can be much more intelligent about how we manage discards in the fisheries sector. I would like to see Ireland and Spain working together to try to find solutions in that regard. The Spanish Minister is very keen to do the same.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Gabhaim buíochas don Aire as ucht an freagra sin. I thank the Minister for that comprehensive response. I very much welcome his commitment to the sea fisheries industry, which is vital not only in my constituency, Cork South-West, but also in many others throughout the country. It has great potential for economic growth and many associated developments.

The Minister mentioned the issue of discards. Does he intend to raise this when he meets the Fisheries Commissioner in Luxembourg tomorrow? If so, what outcome would he like to achieve?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for that question. I am flying to Brussels this evening and am to meet the Fisheries Commissioner tomorrow. I have not yet met her but would like to do so. I have met the Agriculture Commissioner. The Common Fisheries Policy review is very important for Ireland. It must not be in the political shadow of the Common Agricultural Policy review, which is happening at the same time. Both are very important for their respective sectors. When I was asked to be a Minister, I specifically requested ownership of the fisheries sector because, unfortunately, it has not had representation around the Cabinet table. It needs to be represented, particularly in the context of the review.

The current Commissioner is determined to achieve some progress on the issue of discards. The current approach is not workable for the industry. I have met all the main industry players, including those from Killybegs, Castletownbere and the east coast. They are anxious to make progress on the discards issue but the current proposal on offer from the Commissioner is probably not workable. We will be thrashing out some of the ideas coming from the Irish fisheries sector with her to try to have a pragmatic, workable approach to discards and a system that fishing trawler operators can buy into rather than one that is unrealistic.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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Did the Minister raise with the Spanish Minister the issue of information sharing and quota arrangements for boats fishing in the Irish box and Irish waters, particularly the difficulties of the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority in knowing the details on Spanish boats when they land fish here?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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That is a good question on an important issue. Ireland is very anxious to make progress with electronic log books on boats such that when trawlers, be they French, Spanish, British or Irish, catch fish instant information will be obtained on the catch volume. The Naval Service, which is monitoring catch, would have access to the information instantaneously. Manual log books can be doctored before an inspection of boats. We need real-time information on boats so we will know when they are in Irish waters, what is being caught, who is catching the fish and where they are being landed. There has been frustration within the Irish fishing sector over the fact that we are not progressing the electronic log book concept more speedily. I will be raising this with the Commissioner tomorrow.