The Minister for the Marine, Mr Fahey, has criticised the European Commission for failing to take into account the socio-economic importance of the fishing industry to coastal communities.
The EU's Green Paper on the future of the Common Fisheries Policy also fails to mention the Irish Box, which is a biologically sensitive area requiring protection, Mr Fahey has noted. He made his comments yesterday as he marked publication of Ireland's response to the Commission's document.
The controversial Common Fisheries Policy is up for review at the end of this year. Experts predict there will be little overall change to a management scheme that has proved to be a failure in terms of conservation.
Ireland's case for a "thorough and urgent reform" has been placed in the hands of a national strategy review group, which was set up in 1998 and is chaired by former IDA chief Mr Pβdraic White. The group has published six reports on various aspects of the policy, and presented its response to the Green Paper yesterday.
The group says that additional "critical changes" are required to further strengthen the policy.
Such changes would include paying more attention to the socio-economic importance of fisheries. Mr White described the entire section on this in the document as weak - not just in terms of coastal regions in Ireland but also throughout the Union. The review group commissioned a study from the ESRI on this issue.
The failure to mention the Irish Box is also highlighted by the review group. "There is irrefutable evidence to support the need to protect this biologically sensitive area," said Mr White. "Failure to do so will have disastrous consequences for Irish fishermen."
