Fishing Industry
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-19
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Timmy Dooley (FF), Clare

The issue is a little broader than what the Deputy has presented. There is a suggestion that somehow these corporations do better than us in quota negotiations but, in fact, they do not. Quotas are based on track record. If the quota goes down based on scientific advice, each country loses a share based on that species. I wanted to correct that point.
Where there is an issue, and it speaks to the heart of what the Deputy is saying, is with the idea of playing both sides of the fence, being within the European Union and accepting its rules but also gaming it a little bit by having considerable interest in third countries. The negotiations we have sought on sharing arrangements with third countries, from a European perspective, have not happened, notwithstanding the best efforts of the European Union to try to get a comprehensive sharing arrangement in place between us and those third countries whereby we would look to protect the stock and have, in effect, a level playing pitch for all fishers.
That is where I think that malign influence is causing difficulties. Issues like that will be raised as part of any review of the CFP.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:45+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-19