An Irish fishing leader has hit out at the EU after the country’s seafood sector only grew by less than 1% over the past five years.
Aodh O Donnell, Chief Executive of the Irish Fish Producers Organisation, said that the country is being disadvantaged by ‘unfair’ deals, drawing parallels between Ireland and Norway, both non-EU members with similarly-sized populations.
Norway delivered growth of 25% last year with exports worth €14 billion compared to just €674 million for Ireland.
“They have succeeded where we have faltered, as they now export 20 times the value of Irish exports annually, with EU markets accounting for 43% of this,” said Aodh O Donnell, chief executive of the Irish Fish Producers Organisation.
“Our economy and coastal communities should benefit from the resource our waters represent. Instead, other EU and non-EU fleets are increasingly permitted to catch more fish in our waters than the Irish fleet.”
Mr O Donnell said that the EU was considering Norway’s request to increase blue whiting quotas by 450,000 tonnes – more than nine times the size of Ireland’s quota and mainly sourced from Irish waters.
“A radical re-set is required to resist unfettered access to our waters by non-EU countries,” he said.
“Ireland must be prepared to walk away unless a meaningful quota transfer is agreed, in return for giving Norway wider access to our blue whiting.”
