Taoiseach acknowledges 'severe impact' of post-Brexit trade deal on Irish fishing sector

Fishing groups have been voicing their opposition to the deal in recent days, and it is understood that representatives of several bodies expressed their disappointment to the Taoiseach at today's meeting. File Picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has acknowledged that the post-Brexit trade deal struck between the UK and the EU will have a “significant negative impact” on the Irish fishing industry.

Mr Martin, together with Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney and Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue, spoke with representatives of Irish fishing organisations this afternoon, ahead of a Cabinet meeting on the matter tonight.

Fishing groups have been voicing their opposition to the deal in recent days, and it is understood that representatives of several bodies expressed their disappointment to the Taoiseach at the meeting.

In a statement issued this afternoon, a Government spokesperson said the Taoiseach and his ministers were “fully committed to engaging with the representative bodies and working with and for the sector and coastal communities in the coming period”.   

Cabinet look set to discuss the issue at a meeting this evening. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

The spokesperson said that “all possible avenues to support the sector would be examined” and that a “comprehensive plan would be developed in consultation with the representative bodies”. 

Under the terms of the agreement, EU fishing boats will have to reduce the quantity of fish caught in British waters by 25%.

In a statement issued this evening, the Irish Fish Producers Organisation (IFPO) said that the common thread between industry representatives present at the meeting was “the unfair and disproportionate share” the Irish industry would be “expected to bear in order to ensure a deal was agreed.” 

“Our industry agreed that the basis for the current ‘Common Fishery Policy (CFP) is now so altered that rules governing how this resource is shared and allocated between the fishing nations of Europe are no longer applicable,” the statement said.

The IFPO statement said that the EU had chosen to adopt a concept of ‘Zonal Attachment’ to justify giving the 25% increase to British fishers in the share-out of fish caught within British Waters inside the British Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The IFPO has called for similar rules be adopted to calculate the amount Irish fishers are entitled to catch within Irish waters.

“All we ask is that the core and founding principles of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy be upheld,” the IFPO said.

Fishing was one of the more contentious issues at play throughout the post-Brexit trade deal negotiations. 

News of today's meeting comes as EU ambassadors gave provisional approval for the UK’s post-Brexit trade deal to be implemented from Friday of this week. 

UK MPs will vote on the bill on Wednesday.