Irish fishing quotas may be severely reduced

Irish fishing quotas may be severely reduced in Luxembourg today as the EU holds meetings aimed at changing quotas on deepwater fishing.

It is expected that the change will benefit France and Spain, said to receive the lion’s share of the quotas, but the Irish fishing industry may bear the brunt.

The employers group IBEC has joined a growing group of organisations criticising the Government for it’s disbanding of the Department of the Marine in Thursday’s departmental re-shuffle.

The group is demanding that the Department be restored in an effort to champion the cause of the Irish fisheries industry. Responsibility for the industry now falls under the newly formed Department of Communications and Natural Resources, headed by Dermot Ahern.