Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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63. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Norway is currently allowed to fish 74,000 tonnes of blue whiting in Irish waters, whereas Irish fishermen can only catch 48,000 tonnes. [11115/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Norwegian vessels - or fishing vessels of any non-EU country - may not fish in EU waters, including Irish waters, unless there is an agreement in place allowing them to do so. There is currently no such agreement in place for 2023 between the EU and Norway.

The EU engages in annual consultations with Norway in relation to shared fish stocks in the North Sea and the exchange of fishing opportunities. This exchange relates mainly to Norway's transfer of Arctic Cod to the EU in exchange for other stocks. Blue Whiting is the main currency used by the EU to pay for Arctic Cod and Ireland's primary concern is to limit the level of Blue Whiting, an important pelagic stock, in exchanges from which we receive little benefit.

For 2021 for the first time, and in 2022, the EU granted access to Norway to fish some of its Blue Whiting quota in EU waters of ICES Areas 6 and 7 south of 56 degrees 30 minutes and east of 12 degrees West. This access was accepted by Ireland as an exceptional measure and linked to the significant reduction in the Blue Whiting quota transferred to Norway both years which has been a priority for me.

The EU-Norway negotiations in relation to 2023 fishing opportunities began on 9 November 2022 and are currently ongoing. Ireland's position is to keep the Blue Whiting transfer to Norway to a low level and to limit the level of access to Irish waters, particularly the "inner zone" of our Exclusive Economic Zone (east of 12 degrees West).

I am engaged with industry representatives on this issue and have met them regularly to discuss this issue during the course of the negotiations.

I am also actively engaged with the EU Fisheries Commissioner, Virginjus Sinkevicius, on this matter, and met him most recently on 12 January to set out Ireland’s priorities so that the Commission, as the lead negotiators on behalf of the EU, understand fully our position.