European Parliament approves €6,5bn aid for fishing industry

The European Parliament has today approved draft rules to help fishermen to comply with new Common Fisheries Policy requirements.

They approved a €6.5bn aid package that will help fishermen to comply with the discard ban.

The funding can go towards buying more selective fishing gear and to improve safety and working conditions, along with data collection and port infrastructure.

MEPs will now start negotiating the final rules with member states.

Fianna Fáil North West MEP, Pat 'the Cope' Gallagher, said that he is hoping people working in the Irish fishing industry will benefit from the fund.

"In the last fund, we secured about €80m, we're hoping there will be a vast increase on that for Ireland for 2014-2020," he said.