Creed: No backing down over Rockall fishing rights

The Government has warned Scotland it will not back down over the deepening Rockall fishing rights stand-off and will take EU court action if the Scottish threaten fishermen with navy vessels.

Agriculture and Marine Minister Michael Creed gave unconditional backing to Irish fishermen after a Scottish minister said its navy vessels will “board” Irish boats and order them to “cease and desist” if they are found near the north Atlantic islet.

In what is seen as a direct consequence of the escalating Brexit crisis, Scotland has laid claim to the waters around Rockall and accused Ireland of fishing illegally in the region.

Declaring a 12-mile exclusion zone on the islet, the Scottish government said all fishing rights around Rockall — which is 230 nautical miles north-west of Donegal and 240 nautical miles west of Scotland — belong to it.

And, in a follow-up warning, Scotland’s secretary for rural economy, Fergus Ewing, said if Irish fishermen continue to ignore the claim, they will be forced out of the waters by Scottish navy vessels which will be sent to the territory.

“The normal approach is to invite the captain to cease and desist,” Mr Ewing said.

“If that instruction is obeyed, then there’s no need for further action.

“If it’s necessary to do more, then the vessel would be boarded and action would be taken in accordance with the law.”

The situation has caused considerable concern among the Irish fishing sector.

The loss of long-standing fishing rights around Rockall has the potential to see millions of euro taken out of Ireland’s fishing industry every year.

However, speaking to RTÉ, Mr Creed insisted that the Government does not accept Scotland’s Rockall demands.

He said the Government will take the matter to the EU courts if necessary, in order to protect Ireland’s fishing rights.

“Our fishermen that are there now, and those that are planning to go there, are doing so under EU law,” said Mr Creed.

“We believe they are legally entitled to be there and we won’t be asking our fishermen to leave the region around Rockall.”

The stand-off is not thought to have been raised during a meeting between Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, which took place last month.

However, it is the second time this year that the Brexit crisis has led to a disagreement between Ireland and parts of the UK over where this country’s fishing rights begin and end.

There was an unrelated issue involving Northern Ireland over Easter.

The Rockall dispute came as a series of candidates to take over from Theresa May as Conservative party leader in Britain waded into the ongoing Brexit dispute, claiming to have solutions to the ongoing crisis.

In a series of separate announcements:

• Home secretary Sajid Javid offered to give Ireland €500m to pay for any future border;
• Conservative leadership race front-runner Boris Johnson said that the €44bn bill Britain will owe the EU after Brexit should not be paid;
• Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt claimed German chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU may be willing to reopen Brexit talks with the next British prime minister.

Mr Hunt’s claim led to an immediate denial from Brussels and Berlin, with both the EU and Germany repeating that the Brexit deal concluded with British negotiators late last year is not open for renegotiation.

The European Commission and European Council have repeatedly said that while the deal itself will not be reopened, the second stage of the talks, known as the political declaration on the future of the EU-UK relationship, can be discussed.

EU leaders and Ms May are due to meet later this month in Brussels to discuss what progress Britain has made in passing the deal through parliament.

French president Emmanuel Macron insisted on the update meeting when a six-month Brexit deadline extension to October 31 was agreed earlier this year.