Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 14: To ask the Minister for Agriculture; Fisheries and Food if he will provide an update on his meeting with EU Fisheries Commissioner, Maria Damanaki and their discussions on the Common Fisheries Policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27702/11]

Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 18: To ask the Minister for Agriculture; Fisheries and Food if he will provide an update on the recent visit from Commissioner Damanaki; if he will provide an overview of the discussions held during the visit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27701/11]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 18 together. The questions are about how the visit of Commissioner Maria Damanaki went when she visited this country several weeks ago. I thank the Commissioner for coming. I invited her to come several months ago. I also invited our Commissioner, Mrs. Máire Geoghegan-Quinn to visit.

For Commissioner Damanaki's visit I had two purposes in mind; to visit the Marine Institute in Galway to see the extraordinary work it is doing and to allow her to have detailed discussions with me, the fishing industry and NGOs to give an understanding on her perspective on the Common Fisheries Policy and what she wanted to achieve.

In the meeting I used the opportunity to map out in detail why this country feels vulnerable when we look at her approach towards the transferability of fishing concessions or quotas, which essentially means the privatisation of quotas. I reminded her that we support in principle what she wants to do on discards but we think her approach needs to be much more targeted to work with the industry. We had a good discussion. I am confident that when she left she had a much better understanding of Ireland-specific issues.

The reality is that we only catch 18% of the fish in Irish waters. That is the full scope of the EU waters for which this country has responsibility. That puts us in a very unusual position whereby we have large Spanish and French fishing fleets in particular fishing in Irish waters which would like to get their hands on Irish quota if they could. I have explained why I am uncomfortable with the concept of moving away from a quota being treated as a national asset which is then allocated to boats in the Irish fleet in a way that keeps the fleet commercially viable to a system whereby boats could trade quotas among themselves which will result in consolidation and many fewer fishing ports here.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I am sorry to interrupt the Minister but the time is up and I wanted to allow 30 seconds to Deputy Harrington.

Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Only 30 seconds.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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We finish at 5.45 p.m. and it is that time now.

Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister's reply. There are headline issues that the Common Fisheries Policy will discuss. I agree entirely with the Minister's stance on individual transferable quotas. While it makes sense for countries such as France and Spain it would make no sense for this country and would have a severely negative impact on the Irish fishing industry.

Similarly, on the issue of discards it is important that we move with the Commissioner in her position on discards which are immoral. It is a crime. The methodology behind her proposals over-simplify the issue and they need further discussion, particularly with the industry. I hope the Department will work with the industry here to deal with what is a complex issue, more complex than it would appear. It is simple to say it is immoral but it is a difficult issue to deal with and to find a good solution.

Other issues arise as well such as enforcement. The Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, has been working hard and compliance within the fishing industry has greatly improved, which has led to improved prices. That should be acknowledged.

I listened to the Commissioner when she spoke at the Institute of European Affairs. I was concerned that she held up the Danish pelagic industry as a model. The Minister might take note of that. In Denmark 12 or 13 companies control the pelagic industry. That is not something we would wish to emulate. The Commissioner held it up as the way forward. Perhaps the Minister would examine the matter and raise it in his discussions with her and persuade her towards an Irish solution that would maintain the integrity of our industry.