Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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132. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 319 of 1 May 2025, given that it is over a year since the closure of the public consultation on trawling within Ireland's six nautical mile limit and given that trawling continues to take place in inshore waters, some of which are special areas of conservation, when the results of the public consultation will be published; when he will make a decision on the matter; if he is committed to implementing the commitment made in the programme for Government to promote the sustainability of Ireland's fish stocks and to support the inshore fishing sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25621/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for her question and would like to stress that this Government is fully committed to maintaining support for our important inshore fishing sector and promoting the sustainability of fish stocks, as outlined in our Programme for Government.

In December 2018, a transition period to a ban on vessels over 18 metres trawling in inshore waters, inside the six nautical mile zone and the baselines was announced. A significant part of the objective of this measure was to manage the fishing effort on sprat stocks which are primarily targeted within inshore waters. This measure, however, was the subject of extended legal proceedings resulting in the measure being overturned in 2023.

In February 2024, my predecessor, Minister Charlie McConalogue, held a new public consultation on a review of trawling activity inside the six nautical mile zone and the baselines. The consultation took place over a period of eight weeks and closed in April 2024. This consultation took place without prejudice. It had been over five years since the original scientific and economic advice was compiled and the public consultation on this issue took place. Therefore, up-to-date scientific and economic advice was sought from the Marine Institute and Bord Iascaigh Mhara, respectively, on trawling in the waters inside the six nautical miles and the baselines prior to the public consultation.

The purpose of the consultation was to invite stakeholders and interested parties to advise of their views on any changes to policy within the scope of this review. The volume of submissions received on the new 2024 consultation held was considerable – over 5,000 submissions were received, more than six times greater than submissions received during the 2018 consultation, further highlighting the increased public interest in the matter. These submissions will be used to inform a review of trawling activity inside the six nautical mile zone and baselines. The sheer volume of detailed submissions takes time to collate and fully analyse. All relevant issues will be carefully considered before a decision can be made.

I would like to take this opportunity to emphasise that this matter is of the utmost importance to this Government and I can assure the Deputy that my Department is doing everything to progress this as expeditiously as possible.