Creed: ‘Reckless’ Fianna Fáil fishing vote will cost State €40m

The Agriculture Minister has hit out at Fianna Fáil for voting down new EU fishing laws in a move set to cost Ireland €40m, and says any new deal supporting the Government must contain a clause preventing the opposition from blocking other important legislation.

Fine Gael will only accept a new confidence and supply agreement if Fianna Fáil expands its support to vital legislation, Michael Creed suggested.

In an interview with the Irish Examiner, Mr Creed said his department had “suffered” as a result of what he previously described as the reckless decision by Fianna Fáil to vote down the statutory instrument, understood to be the first time this has happened since the foundation of the State.

Fianna Fáil opposed an EU regulation to impose penalty points on fishermen which could cost up to €40m in lost funding.

“We are facing the potential loss of very significant funds from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, which goes into funding the industry in all its manifestations, because of the Dáil’s failure to ratify a regulation that ironically was negotiated by Fianna Fáil,” said Mr Creed.

Ireland has already received a rap on the knuckles for non-compliance, the EU Commission suspending €2.6m funding in 2017 and €4m this year. This accrues to €37m in the event of continued non-compliance.

He said he would like the confidence and supply agreement extended for two more years, but further stipulations would have to be put on Fianna Fáil as part of a deal.

He said a commitment to support secondary legislation would have to be tied into an extension of the confidence and supply.

In the context of renegotiations, t

“That would be one of the issues that we would want some reassurances on, on secondary legislation,” said Mr Creed.

The three-budget deal with Fianna Fáil expires after October’s budget with an option to renegotiate an extension of the agreement towards the end of the year.However, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has indicated that he would like a new deal hammered out before October, which Fianna Fáil is vehemently opposed to, claiming the Budget must be passed first.Citing Brexit, Mr Creed said: “I think confidence and supply has worked very well, it has enabled Government to face challenges like it has never faced before with a degree of confidence about its own security of tenure.”He said it would be “inconceivable” that any Government would be able to face into critical Brexit negotiations and deadlines if it had a tenuous grasp on its own position of power.“It’s not power for power’s sake, it’s about being able to effectively protect the national agenda on an international stage in the context of Brexit,” he said.However, Mr Creed said Fianna Fáil must be given some credit for assisting in creating a stable Government here.

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