Taoiseach holds meeting on fishing policy

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has held meetings with European Commission president Romani Prodi and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar to discuss Irish concerns about the fishing policy reforms.

The meetings took place on the fringes of the EU summit in Copenhagen, which ends today. European leaders are due to begin negotiations on future fish quota allocations next week.

Irish fishermen staged a day-long stoppage today in protest at the fact that Ireland owns 11% of EU waters, but just 5% of the fishing quota.

Irish Fishermen's Organisation spokesman Philip O'Neill said Ireland got a "raw deal" in 1973 when it effectively handed over billions of euros worth of fishing rights to the large EU states.

"Over the years, it didn't really matter, because there was plenty of fish for everybody," he said.

"Now the fish is so scarce and our little quota is so small that we have to stay in port. We can't actually go out and fish our own waters. We have been, for the last 30 years, signing blank cheques away to Europe, and especially France and Spain."