THE Minister for the Marine said he was "not prepared to tolerate the flouting of fisheries law by flagships or any fishing vessels, irrespective of nationality", operating in Irish waters.
Answering questions in the Dail, Mr Barrett said there were about 150 flagships operating in Irish waters, "The majority are registered in the UK, there are 12 on the Irish register and some registered in France and Germany."
He also revealed that the State collected more than £7 million in fines for illegal fishing since 1990.
The Minister said he was "extremely concerned" about the flagship problem, especially the very serious difficulties of controlling their activities in Irish waters and "the fact that flagships benefit from national quotas without providing real economic benefits for the fishing communities of the flag State".
Asked by Mr Eamon O Cuiv (FF, Galway East) about the value of fish taken illegally from Irish waters, the Minister said in a written reply that such statistics were difficult to quantify. However, he said that about one million metric tonnes of fish are caught annually in the Irish zone with a value of £700 million. Ireland's share of this is about £139 million. The catch would include an unquantified amount of illegal catch.