BY MARIAN ROCHE AND JACKIE KEOGH 

The chairman of the Castletownbere Fishermen’s Co-Op has described the feelings of anger and dismay in Castletownbere in response to proposals to cut Irish fishing quotas.

‘We’re an island country, and this is the most difficult time for the industry in my memory’ said John Nolan this week. ‘Our industry is facing Armageddon. It would hardly pay you to go out fishing. We understand that quotas are cut for conservation, but the one thing we had was the Hague Preference’.

The Hague Preference is a mechanism that EU countries can trigger to redistribute other EU member states’ quota to countries (in this case, Ireland) if quotas fall below a certain threshold. Last week, France, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands blocked Ireland’s use of the Hague Preference. Since Brexit, the UK lost any rights or benefits to the Hague Preference, which has had knock-on effects for Ireland.

‘There’s no question; if we had the support of the UK, we would have gotten it’ says John, who said a legal challenge should be considered by the Government.

‘You can imagine in Castletownbere, our economy is dependent on fishing. We’re looking at a 50% loss in revenue and if young people leave, you know the impact that has in West Cork.’

‘We should look at the question of access to our waters, if the EU won’t honour the Hague Preference. When we negotiated it in 1976, we granted European countries access to our waters. If they’re saying the Hague Preference isn’t allowed, maybe we should say access to our waters isn’t allowed.’ Mr Nolan said that the Government support has been welcome, albeit late, and commended the Taoiseach and Ministers Timmy Dooleyand Martin Heydon following a meeting earlier this month with fishing industry representatives.

‘They’re on our side, but for too long fishing was ignored. I believe they were sincere, and they listened to every one of us. However, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. If we don’t get support at EU level we certainly need it at national level. In the short term, we need financial support’.

‘It’s difficult. We’ll get out of bed in the morning, and we’ll get on with it, but we do need Government support.’

The matter was raised at a council meeting on Monday by local Cllr Danny Collins, who described it as a ‘€200 million blow’ for the fishing industry.

‘The fishing industry has taken hit after hit over decades,’ said Cllr Collins, blaming weak representation in Europe for the issue. Saying that the EU is ‘shafting’ Ireland, he called on the Irish government to appeal the quota cuts to the European Court of Justice.

‘There were over 1,000 of our boats fishing our seas, but now there are only 140. If they can do it for Apple surely they can do it for the fishing industry.’

He said the huge investment in fishing facilities at Dinish Pier are benefiting non-Irish fishermen, and it is EU delivery trucks that are on the roads to Rosslare. Cllr Joe Carroll echoed the accusations, saying that EU representatives should be hanging their heads in shame: ‘The wonderful extension of the pier in Castletownbere was for the Spanish!’

Minister Dooley said that he would be establishing a working group and the first meeting is anticipated for January 2026, a fact welcomed by Mr Nolan.