Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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169. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide an update on the efforts that he has made along with the Minister for Foreign Affairs to reinstate access for Irish fishermen to their traditional fishing grounds around Rockall; and if this matter will be brought to international arbitration. [60539/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware, Ireland has never made any claims to Rockall, nor has Ireland ever recognised British sovereignty claims over Rockall and accordingly has not recognised a 12 nautical mile territorial sea around it either. This remains the position of the Government.

The Government has been in contact with the relevant Scottish and UK authorities on Rockall over recent years and intensively since the beginning of last year. 

Through this engagement, the Government is seeking to address the issues involved, reflecting the longstanding fisheries tradition in the area.

I continue to work closely with Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, Simon Coveney T.D. to consider all options for further engagement on the issues involved.

I received the report of the Seafood Task Force - Navigating Change in October 2021.  Irish vessels have traditionally fished for squid and haddock in the waters around Rockall and the impact of the loss of access to these waters was examined by the Task Force.  The Task Force estimated that, in 2019, the total Irish squid fishery was valued at around €6.6 million.  The majority of this squid is taken by the Irish fleet from the waters surrounding Rockall and this amounted to 1,071 tonnes, valued in excess of €5 million in 2019 and 371 tonnes valued at €1.6 million in 2020.   The estimate by the Task Force of the catch of other stocks near Rockall is €1 million, which generally may be fished outside the waters around Rockall.

In May, I launched a 2022 Brexit Voluntary Temporary Fishing Vessel Tie-up Scheme, as recommended by the Seafood Sector Task Force. The scheme is an extension of the 2021 Tie-up scheme, with some modifications, and will help mitigate the impacts of quota cuts for 2022 arising from the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.  For 2022, eligible vessels were eligible to tie up for two, non-sequential months but eligible Rockall squid vessels may tie up for two consecutive months, due to the short length and seasonality of this fishery.