Results 9,761-9,780 of 18,593 for speaker:Michael Creed

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: I thank the Chairman and the committee for inviting me here today. I will make an opening statement and then do my best to answer any questions members may have. In the overall context of Brexit, the priority areas for the Government are clear. This is about our citizens, our economy, Northern Ireland, the common travel area and the future of the European Union, EU, itself. We are, and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: In that case I will conclude my opening remarks. I appreciate the interests of members in this issue. It is particularly challenging for the fishing industry. There is extensive consultation by the industry with my Department on these matters and there is a substantially agreed position by the industry in the context of Brexit. We look forward to trying to progress the interests of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: The Sea Fisheries (Amendment) Bill has nothing to do with this issue.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: That depends how one defines the Irish national interest. It is strange that a republican party is not taking a 32-county approach. I wonder if the Senator's colleague next to him agrees with his interpretation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: I thank Senator Mac Lochlainn and Deputy McConalogue. There is absolute unity among the 27 member states on the approach to fisheries. I qualify that statement by pointing out that fishing is not an issue for a significant number of member states. In the context of my overall engagement on Brexit-related matters across the Department's range of responsibilities, some member states are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: We talk about our waters but our industry, in the context of Brexit, takes 60% of its most valuable stock from UK waters. That is the concept behind the Common Fisheries Policy. It is about access to EU member states' waters. I appreciate the point the Senator makes, namely, that the industry got a bad deal on accession. I have heard this from the fishing industry on a number of occasions...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: If the Senator is advocating an Irexit in order that we might take control of our waters-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: There are a lot of resources in what we might term our waters that others share, but we share other waters also. That has been the benefit of a Common Fisheries Policy. If the Senator is advocating a position whereby, in the context of Brexit, they will take theirs and we will take ours, then we will lose 60% of our most valuable stock, mackerel. I do not believe in that analysis of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: Perhaps I have dwelt overlong on that, but it is an important point. The Senator asked another question on the value of fish and I can read a note I have been passed which provides as accurate a view as we have of the situation. It states that taking account of waters covering the region from northern Scotland to Brittany, covering Ireland's 200 mile zone as well as parts of the UK and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: That involves the region from northern Scotland to Brittany, including all of our own waters.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: I do not have the figure for EU waters.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: It is 216,000 tonnes and €201 million.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: I do not have that figure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: Not all fish landed in Irish ports is landed by Irish boats. One of the things the Department has been anxious to do is facilitate the development of peripheral rural and coastal communities by building our infrastructure through investment. As Deputy Ferris will know, there is an investment programme under way in Dingle and there is also one under way in Castletownbere. There is an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: These are European Union waters and I am giving the Senator the catch taken by Irish fishing boats in EU waters.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: We do not break down the catch specifically in Irish waters.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: Fisheries are not managed on the basis that they are in Irish waters. They are in EU waters and it is on the basis of quotas allocated.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: We can communicate it subsequently in further detail but the committee should rest assured that waters are not managed on the basis of what is caught in Irish waters, UK waters or French waters, respectively. It is EU waters and the overall entitlement to catch fish in those waters is predicated on scientific information gathered and collated by the International Council for the Exploration...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: In so far as we have information on the zones for which allocations are made, we can communicate it in greater detail.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: London Fisheries Convention: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (11 Jul 2017)

Michael Creed: From northern Scotland to Brittany.