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Taoiseach Micheál Martin has acknowledged that the post-Brexit trade deal reached between the UK and the EU will have a “significant negative impact” on the Irish fishing industry.
Mr Martin, along with Foreign Minister Simon Coveney and Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue, spoke with representatives of Irish fisheries organizations this afternoon, before a cabinet meeting on the subject tonight.
Fishing groups have been voicing their opposition to the deal in recent days, and representatives from various agencies are understood to have expressed disappointment to the Taoiseach at the meeting.
In a statement issued this afternoon, a government spokesman said the Taoiseach and its ministers were “fully committed to collaborating with representative bodies and working with and for the sector and coastal communities in the coming period.”
The spokesman said that “all possible avenues of support to the sector will be examined” and that a “comprehensive plan will be developed in consultation with representative bodies.”
Under the terms of the agreement, EU fishing vessels will have to reduce the amount of fish caught in British waters by 25%.
In a statement issued tonight, the Irish Fish Producers Organization (IFPO) said that the common thread among the industry representatives present at the meeting was “the unfair and disproportionate share” that the Irish industry was expected to endure for secure an agreement. ” It was agreed.”
“Our industry agreed that the basis of the current ‘Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is now so altered that the rules governing how this resource is shared and allocated among the fishing nations of Europe are no longer applicable,” said the release.
The IFPO statement said that the EU had chosen to adopt a concept of “zonal linkage” to justify granting the 25% increase to British fishermen in the distribution of fish caught in British waters within the British Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ ).
IFPO has called for similar rules to be adopted to calculate the amount Irish fishermen are entitled to catch in Irish waters.
“All we ask is that the fundamental and fundamental principles of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy be respected,” said IFPO.
Fishing was one of the most contentious issues at stake during the post-Brexit trade deal negotiations.
News of today’s meeting comes as EU ambassadors tentatively approved the UK’s post-Brexit trade deal to be implemented from Friday this week.
UK MPs will vote on the bill on Wednesday.
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