Fishing Quotas: Statements Dail Éireann — 2026-02-24 ============================================================ Timmy Dooley (FF), Clare We could be here a long time if we got into that. They were ahead of the game in establishing their fishing rights and they were grandfathered in to the agreements that came. We are working off the back foot. When we joined the European Union our sector was very small and underdeveloped. It has done well. Some really great ingenuity went into it around the coastline in particular the pelagics and in other areas. They have really developed and now they are hit with the quota reductions. It is one thing having a quota but when the quota gets reduced then you are on the back foot. We fought hard on the Hagues. A couple of people spoke about the Hagues and whether we will take legal action. We are still waiting for the Office of the Attorney General to peruse that in detail. I was very upfront and direct previously - a case not dissimilar was litigated previously in the ECJ. It was found that the decision in relation not so much to the invoking of the Hagues but whether or not they are accepted it is a matter for the Council. The Council decided with a blocking minority to prevent them from going ahead. That decision is taken so it is hard to see a legal pathway. I do not want to be the one responsible for putting a further financial burden on the State taking a case until we see there is a pathway through or a possibility. If there is any chink there, we will certainly go after it. I am regularly in contact with other member states. We are trying to find diplomatic ways to engage with each other to see if come next year there is a less hostile environment. It is not obvious at the minute but we will keep all of that on the agenda. The work continues to get the allowable catch agreed by the end of March. We are hopeful there will be some positive in that for us. Positive would be an allowable catch agreed by all the parties - coastal states and the European Union - which we can stand over scientifically and leads to sustainability because that is critical. We cannot have a situation where we mind the fish and do everything right and others which have 80% of the opportunity operate with raw abandon. There is no point then in us then being best in class because it will not work. We have work to do in that regard. A couple of other issues were raised. I have addressed some at committee previously. The SFPA regularly comes up for discussion. I cannot interfere with the SFPA. It goes before the committee and has a role there. It is like An Garda Síochána - Ministers do not engage on individual issues but there is work that can be done. Having had a number of engagements with the SFPA over the past number of months and hearing the response in here, there is a recognition that the activities of the past of a different generation of fishermen have changed and perhaps the SFPA in its terms and conditions or the way it views the world has to align with that. We have to try to build a culture of trust between the two sides but at the same time be clear that the SFPA has a legal mandate which it has to protect, which it is doing. There could be an engagement there. There is work that can be done in terms of the rules and regulations. I take the point - the Killybegs one is particularly arduous in the guesstimation of what is in the hold of the boat. You do the guesstimation based on all the principles and if it turns out to be a mismatch with what ultimately goes through the factory, which is all recorded anyway, there is a price to pay. I have not been able to figure out how that makes sense. We have work to do on it and we will. I want to encourage that. The SFPA was before the committee previously and I do not think it worked very well. The SFPA will have to look at its engagement with the committee in its understanding of what the committee does and seeks to represent. Perhaps then the committee will understand, if it is fair and open, what the SFPA has to do. The committee now provides that opportunity. I would like to see more open dialogue not in relation to individual cases but on how we can improve things while retaining the rules, regulations and protections. If rules and regulations become undermined and are not properly enforced, we will end up in a situation with the auditors at European level holding the Government to account. I know that is not what fishermen want. They have seen the way things have developed and the systems now in place such as electronic tracking. We have taken a decision to proceed with the designation of Killybegs but we now have to go through a process of some further equipment that needs to be put in place which we are working on. A good few people spoke about how we managed to get from here to the other side in terms of the reduction of quota. Others have rightly asked if it is going to be another task force that will talk shop. I have given it a time limit, stripped it back to the bare in what it needs to do and proposals need to come out of it. It will need to get a framework of financial supports. I made it clear to the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste from the start that this will need ring-fenced funding to assist in getting through. I have no doubt when it is published we will be here again and it will never meet the expectations of the other side of the House. I understand that. That is the way it should be. There should be that tension here to keep all our feet to the fire in trying to achieve the best we can for all concerned. My view is we have three to five years of trying to hold the industry through a difficult period to get the conservation measures in place and then hope to see a recovery in the stock, hoping it is not overly based on climate change and the fish have not moved further north or out of our waters. Issues about bluefin tuna were mentioned. There is an evaluation of the CFP due to be published before June at the end of the Cypriot Presidency. I am hopeful if there is a review thereafter - the evaluation and then the review - that it is at a time like that where we can look at other potential opportunities on quota. The Deputy is right. Bluefin is coming into our waters with great regularity. There was talk about representation for the inshore guys who are primarily guys, or gentlemen. We ensure they are fairly represented. There are six of the inshore guys represented on that. We have to look at that separately. There are a lot individuals, small communities and small boats involved. We have to look for a medium- and longer-term support structure for them too. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-24/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:40+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-24