Fishing Industry
Dail Éireann — 2023-12-14
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Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (SF), Donegal

The Minister referred to the 2013 agreement. The difficulty was that agreement was made in the context of all waters beyond the 12-mile limit being under the jurisdiction of the Common Fisheries Policy. Rockall was under the Common Fisheries Policy. Both Governments had an interest in allowing fair access. It is extraordinary the trade and co-operation agreement allowed the British Government to take advantage of the new reality and to put this arbitrary limit around Rockall.
Unfortunately, the Government passed legislation, the Maritime Jurisdiction Act, that implemented the 2013 agreement. That agreement never came through these Houses. It would be questionable under the Supreme Court, given the voisinage agreement precedent. It would have been questionable if that 2013 agreement was legal under Irish law but we made it legal at a time when Britain was behaving so badly.
We have made mistakes, from the Irish Government's perspective, but I accept that the Minister has been engaging. It is clear from The Guardian and from freedom of information, that the Irish Government has been repeatedly raising this. This is extreme bad faith on the part of the British Government and we need to call it out. It has to end. It has to stop.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-12-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:32+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-12-14