Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join in expressing concerns in respect of the announcement by the UK's Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at the weekend that the UK would unilaterally withdraw from the London agreement on fisheries without any consultation. Aside from the substance of the London agreement, it does not bode very well for the UK's attitude to fisheries, which in turn does not bode well for Irish fishermen. One can put it in context by noting that the UK's exclusive fishery zone - if it succeeds in leaving and in retaining its territorial waters - would comprise 33% of the north-east Atlantic waters, while 36% of fish landed by Irish fishermen are from UK waters. This is rave and serious. We are not only talking about Irish fishermen being blocked from going fishing but also, potentially, about them competing with fishermen who will no longer be regulated by the EU or be operating under various environmental and sustainability criteria but who potentially basically can fish at will. I can well understand why fishermen are very concerned.

The Minister should come in here to debate the issue as a matter of urgency. It is a tangible and real problem. We are trying to gauge where the issues are going to arise, what will run smoothly and what will not. There is a clearly a problem here. The flag has been raised. It seems that the British approach to Brexit is that if they do not get everything they want, they are not for it. There needs to be a bit of a reality check. When we are negotiating other matters and giving concessions to the British, the case for the Irish fishermen should be brought to the fore. Fishermen have been trying to raise this matter for some time and now there is some focus on it.