The Irish mackerel fishery will be opened up this week, following "prolonged, intense" negotiations with the European Commission, Minister for the Marine Noel Dempsey said last night.
An agreement reached in Brussels yesterday will "minimise the impact" of quota deductions on "the majority of fishermen who had little or nothing to do" with illegal landings into Scotland in 2001-2004, Mr Dempsey and his junior Minister, John Browne, said in a statement last night.
The move has been welcomed by the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation (KFO), which had accused Mr Dempsey of being "judge and jury" over allegations of illegal landings which have not yet led to any prosecutions.
KFO chief executive Seán O'Donoghue stood over his comments last night, insisting that the northwest fleet had never been given any specific details about the number of vessels allegedly involved. This contrasted with the approach taken by Scottish authorities in relation to their mackerel fleet - a proportion of which is also alleged to have landed illegally during the same period, Mr O'Donoghue said.
Not only had the Scottish industry been given full information on possible penalties almost two months ago, but its spring mackerel fishery had opened on January 1st without any delay, Mr O'Donoghue said.
Under the agreement, a penalty has been imposed on the entire Irish mackerel fleet, irrespective of the numbers of vessels allegedly involved in breaking Common Fisheries Policy rules in the past. This amounts to a 6.7 per cent cut in the national mackerel quota this year, with total reductions being spread over six years.
The Minister said that some of the Irish vessels "reported as implicated in large-scale illegal landings into Scotland" had put him under formal legal notice that they might challenge the quota deduction.