Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)
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Question 1581: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the Common Fisheries Policy has benefitted the fishing sector here. [30384/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is the European Union's instrument for the management of fisheries and aquaculture. It was set down in 1983 and has been reviewed on a 10 year basis since then (in 1992 and 2002). It embraces such key areas as access to resources, conservation, control and enforcement structures and fleet policy.

Since Ireland jointed the European Community, landings by Irish vessels increased substantially. In 1975 landings amounted to 81,473 tonnes and the landings in 2007 amounted to 210,791 tonnes.

There is ongoing work and proposals in relation to strengthening and improving the CFP. There will be further discussions on this issue at next week's EU Fisheries Council.