Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I rise to raise a very serious matter. I am formally requesting that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine come before the House at the earliest opportunity to address the matter. Members will recall that earlier this year we debated the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2019, which sought to give UK-registered vessels access to Irish fisheries right up to the shoreline. It was a very controversial piece of legislation. It was pushed through the Seanad and the Dáil by the Government under the premise that it would build relations concerning access to fishing waters after Brexit. That was the argument put to the fishing organisations and the Opposition parties.

The fishing representatives are now asking serious questions about when correspondence from the Scottish Government to the Irish Government threatening to enforce a 12-mile limit around Rockall started. When did that correspondence start? Was it taking place as this legislation was being put through? If so, why were the Opposition parties and the fishing representative organisations not made aware of it?

Moreover, it is critical that the Minister comes before this House to clarify the 2013 agreement which has now come to public attention. Everybody was puzzled as to why a usually prudent Scottish National Party Government in Scotland is taking these measures. It turns out they are based on a 2013 agreement signed by then Tánaiste, Eamon Gilmore, on behalf of the Government in which the Leader's colleague, Deputy Simon Coveney, who is now Tánaiste, was the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. This agreement formally recognised the Rockall area as part of an exclusive UK economic zone. This was done in disagreement with Iceland. In other words, in 2013 senior Government representatives vindicated the British claim to the fisheries around Rockall and gave the Scottish Government the legal basis to threaten to remove Irish boats. None of this was made clear in debates on the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2019. This is very serious. I am now formally requesting the Minister, Deputy Creed, to come before this House and make a statement clarifying when the correspondence from the Scottish Government commenced. Was it during the period when this legislation was going through this House? Furthermore, has the Irish Government, without any consultation with the Irish fishing community, signed an agreement with the British Government which basically hands Rockall fishing rights over to it? This is serious and we need urgent clarification. We need the Minister to make a statement before this House as soon as possible. I ask the Leader to confirm that today.