The Government today welcomed the "balanced package" of the 2008 fisheries quota deal thrashed out after all-night talks between the 27 EU member states in Brussels.
The deal was also broadly welcomed by the Labour party and the umbrella fisheries lobby group, the Federation of Irish Fishermen (FIF).
FIF Chairman Sean O' Donoghue said the Federation was satisfied with the outcome and complimented Ministers Mary Coughlan and John Browne for "engaging productively with industry representatives and for prioritising their concerns".
After hours of negotiating the EU's fisheries ministers accepted a series of concessions offered by the European Commission which will see Ireland's catch quota at more than 180,000 tonnes, including 35,000 tonnes of whitefish.
The Total Allowable Catch (TAC) levels for many stocks has been maintained, including monkfish, prawns and haddock and an increase was secured for hake, plaice off the south-west and haddock in the Rockall area.
Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan, who headed up Ireland's negotiating team with Junior Minister John Browne, said she was extremely pleased with the outcome.
"I am delighted that we have been successful in delivering a balanced package of fishing opportunities for our fishermen.
"Where I saw that cuts in TACs were required for conservation reasons I sought and secured alternative increased opportunities in other valuable stocks. "The final package of quotas for Ireland will underpin our €750 million seafood sector," she said.
Under the deal Ireland has been allocated 35,612 tonnes of whitefish, 125,956 tonnes of pelagic and 21,131 tonnes for industrial.
The ministers also gained the support of Council colleagues for a rebuilding plan for herring in the Celtic Sea.
Prepared by fishermen, it commits to a series of conservation measures in order to rebuild the stock which is almost exclusively in Irish hands. Ministers also committed to major research programmes in partnership with industry to develop a better understanding of the herring stock in the north west.
Mr Browne said: "We worked closely with industry over the past few weeks and especially during the negotiations to ensure that as far as possible Ireland's priorities were delivered."
During the negotiations Ministers Coughlan and Browne persuaded the Council and the Commission to reject attempts by some Member States to introduce smaller mesh fishing gear into Irish waters.
"I was very disappointed that some Member States sought to introduce smaller mesh gear in our waters," Ms Coughlan said.
"We rejected this proposal and convinced our colleagues that the measure was anti-conservation. "Had this measure gone through it would have flown in the face of all our efforts to promote the use of larger mesh gear which allow small fish to pass through, reduce discards and promote the rebuilding of fish stocks."
New Protection areas for deep water coral reefs were also secured.
"Ireland identified areas where cold water coral sites are particularly important and secured the Council's agreement to measures that will ensure that the corals in these areas are fully protected for future generations," Mr Browne said.