Minister Coveney set down “the key requirement for Ireland in the Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy that the reform supports the maintenance and creation of jobs in coastal communities”. 

The Director General’s visit to Ireland was to hear, at first hand, the priorities for Ireland’s fisheries in the reform of the CFP.  She held a two-hour meeting with industry representatives and, following the meeting, Minister Coveney took the opportunity to meet her and outline some of the key issues for Ireland in the Reform.

Minister Coveney said “I took the opportunity to meet and discuss with Director General Evans the concerns I have, which are fully shared by the industry here in Ireland, that the planned privatisation of fish quotas will lead to the family owned fishing fleet being bought up by European international companies who have the capital to buy out our quotas.  I have no doubt that this will lead to concentration of fishing into the hands of large fishing international companies without links to the coastal communities and these factory vessels will no longer land into Ireland resulting in loss of jobs and economic activity in our coastal communities.”

Minister Coveney also set down other issues of importance for the Irish fishing industry including the need to effectively address the unacceptable level of discards and moving to a pragmatic regional management structure for the CFP.

Minister Coveney added: “I asked Director General Evans to reflect in the context of finalising the Reform proposals with Commissioner Damanaki, on Ireland’s priorities and the serious concerns about a mandatory privatisation of quotas that I had set out and also outlined to her at the earlier meeting with the Irish industry.”

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