Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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261. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason civil society groups have been excluded from the annual fisheries negotiations between Norway and the EU, including Ireland; if he will make representations to ensure that civil society is included in the negotiations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28408/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland has a limited interest in the annual EU/Norway consultations. Our primary concern is with regard to the use of Blue whiting, an important pelagic stock, in exchanges from which we receive little benefit. We do not get involved in TAC setting discussions given that we do not have any quota for the relevant stocks.

Officials from my Department form part of the overall EU delegation which includes representatives from other Member States and is headed by an official from the European Commission who have exclusive competence with regard to such consultations. Representatives from the fishing industry are also often present in the building as observers but do not attend either the EU coordination meetings or the consultations themselves.

In these circumstances, the inclusion of representatives from civil society groups in the same manner as those from the fishing industry would need to be agreed with the Commission and those Member States in particular who, unlike Ireland, do have a direct management interest in the stocks under discussion in the EU/Norway consultations.

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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262. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his attention has been drawn to the fact that nine out of 16 TACs for shared stocks in 2019 decided during the Norway-EU fisheries consultations exceed ICES scientific advice; and if he will request the EU Commission to consult with Norway with the ICES TAC advice serving as an upper limit in line with the principles of good governance of the CFP Article 3 and the CFP target of sustainable rates of fishing by 2020 in view of the evidence. [28409/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland has a limited interest in the annual EU/Norway consultations. Our primary concern is with regard to the use of Blue whiting, an important pelagic stock, in exchanges from which we receive little benefit. We do not get involved in TAC setting discussions given that we do not have any quota for the relevant stocks.

The European Commission has exclusive competence with regard to these consultations and its actions are governed by the Common Fisheries Policy (Regulation (EU) 1380/2013). As the Deputy states, that includes principles of good governance as set down in Article 3 of that Regulation. The Commission are also bound by Article 33 of the same regulation regarding the management of stocks of common interest with third countries such as Norway. This article states that the 'Union shall engage with those third countries with a view to ensuring that those stocks are managed in sustainable manner that is consistent with ...the objective laid down in Article 2(2).It is that article which contains the objective of reaching the maximum sustainable yield exploitation rate by 2020.