Irish fishermen are set to lose a staggering €800 million in revenue due to the new EU-UK Brexit fisheries agreement, which will last for 12 years until 2038, it has been revealed, reports The Mirror.
This claim was made by Aodh O’Donnell, CEO of the Irish Fish Producers Organisation, which represents most of the country’s fishermen, in an interview with the Sunday Mirror.
He warned: “The current EU quota allocations are disastrous for Ireland’s coastal communities and an indictment of ongoing and systemic injustice at EU level. By June of this year Irish fishermen were forced to stop targeted sole fishing in the Celtic Sea because they were given less than 5pc of the EU quota there. In contrast Belgian vessels will continue to fish Celtic Sea sole, benefiting from a staggering 87pc of the total EU quota in that fishing zone. The imbalance continues in the Irish nSea where Belgian fleets hold 59pc of the EU quota – almost three times Ireland’s 20pc share. To put this disparity in context Belgium has a 67 km coastline while the Irish coastline is over 3,100k, so we deserve bitter not small quotas. Irish fishing interests have been repeatedly sidelined by Brussels,” reports The Mirror.
Mr O’Donnell added that the extension of the existing EU-UK fishery deal, first established post-Brexit, means that an astonishing 40pc of the quota value transferred to the UK originates from Ireland alone.
He warned: “In a hammer blow to Ireland’s coastal communities this deal will now be rolled over until 2038. It has already cost our industry 180 million euros to date but losses will total an estimated 800 million by 2038. The burden was never shared fairly and now this inequity appears to be locked in for another 12 years. The Irish Fish Producers Organisation has rightly questioned why Ireland was singled out to carry such a disproportionate burden. Ireland holds 12pc of EU waters but receives less than 6pc of the quotas. The Irish mackerel fleet alone has lost 26pc of its quota while the Dublin Bay Prawns fleet has lost 15pc. This injustice cannot stand. The Irish Government must urgently meet with the European Commission and demand a full rebalancing of the Brexit burden. We cannot accept a continuation of a policy that sacrifices Irish fishers and the communities they sustain,” reports The Mirror.
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