Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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128. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine given the existential warnings from the Irish fishing sector, if he will publish the Government’s sectoral impact assessments of the 2026 quota cuts; outline the legal and trade measures being pursued at EU and bilateral levels to counter unfair overfishing by third-party fleets; and outline a transitional support scheme (income, retraining, diversification) for affected coastal communities. [57608/25]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Each year, my Department carries out a Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) to look at the overall impacts the possible fishing opportunities for the following year could have on the sustainability of the fishing sector from a biological, economic and social perspective.

The Sustainability Impact Assessment, which involves a public consultation process along with expert contributions from the Marine Institute and BIM, is an essential step in Ireland’s preparation for the fishing opportunity negotiations. I met with relevant stakeholder groups as part of the annual Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) process earlier this month and presented the assessment to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Fisheries and Marine Affairs on 14th October. The Sustainability Impact Assessment, along with submissions to the public consultation process, will be published on my Department's website.

Ireland has repeatedly raised the overfishing of Mackerel by some Coastal States outside the EU over recent years. I will continue to highlight this critical issue for our fishers, and to engage intensively with the European Commissioner for Fisheries and other Member States on possible actions to protect our stocks. At next week's Council of Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers I will be raising an AOB point to highlight the need for urgent action at EU level to protect our key pelagic stocks.

I can assure the Deputy that I am committed to working closely across Government Departments to assess what supports may be available to the seafood sector in the context of EU state aid rules, and within the constraints of both EU and national Exchequer funding. To this end, I have had initial discussions with the EU Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, an Taoiseach and the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation.