TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has committed to supporting and protecting the fishing sector, a West Cork Fine Gael councillor has said.
Cllr Caroline Cronin said Mr Varadkar met a fishing industry delegation to discuss their priority issues at a special party conference held in Maynooth on November 18th.
‘I have been a representative in the Cork South West area for almost two years and my husband is an inshore fisherman, so fishing is essential to the livelihood of my family and I have a first-hand understanding of the issues and challenges facing the fishing industry,’ said Cllr Cronin.
‘We expressed deep gratitude for a very successful meeting with the Taoiseach at the special conference in Maynooth on November 18th, with the meeting also including representatives from Killybegs and Castletownbere.
‘The meeting addressed various subjects such as heavy-handed oversight of the industry, fishing quota sharing, pelagic fishing, demersal fishing, inshore fishing, aquaculture, and fish processing.
‘Resolving the issue of insufficient quotas is vital to sustaining our fishing industry. This follows the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) and quota transfers to the UK which will have an impact on Ireland’s industry.‘Our fisheries sector is one of the sectors most impacted by Brexit so it is vital everything can be done to assist the sector and coastal communities in addressing the impacts of the quota cuts.’
Cllr Cronin said Mr Varadkar put the issues facing the fishing sector to European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius when he visited Ireland last month.
Meanwhile Sinn Féin election candidate for Sinn Féin general election candidate for the Cork South West Dáil constituency, Clare O´Callaghan, called for clarification regarding fishing of spring-spawning herring, which she said is affecting local fishermen, and says fishermen cannot be allowed to be caught unawares.
Ms O’Callaghan raised the issue of the prohibition on the fishing of spring-spawning herring in an areas off the North East coast. Ms O’Callaghan and Sinn Féin MEP Chris MacManus questioned the European Commission on when the EU and Irish authorities were made aware of the prohibition.
‘Norwegian authorities have recently implemented a prohibition on fishing spring-spawning herring in the North East and it appears this prohibition was not communicated to local fishers in Ireland by relevant Irish authorities, and thus left local fishers in a precarious position of being unaware of what is a seasonal closure on fishing spring-spawning herring,’ she said.
‘This simply is not good enough. Upon hearing of the seasonal closure, the Irish authorities should have immediately informed fishing communities here.
