A walk-out by Dr Michael Woods and threats of legal action marked the end of the annual marathon fish catch negotiations yesterday in Brussels. The Minister for the Marine walked out of the 30-hour meeting, complaining of discrimination against the Republic and demanding that his protest be recorded in the minutes.
Fishermen's representatives expressed sympathy for Dr Woods, but were angered by what they regard as an "annual sham".
Dr Woods accused the Dutch, who got a quota of 34 per cent, of abusing their position as advisers to the fishless Luxembourg Presidency during the negotiations.
"Every time we came into the room, the Dutch quota was up," he said. Dr Woods decried the "victimisation of Ireland, unparalleled in its 25 years of EU membership", and the "arbitrary method" to set quotas.
The Fisheries Commissioner, Ms Emma Bonino, said that while she understood Dr Wood's frustration, her priority was to ensure the regulation of the fishery. Any other division of the quota would not have got the necessary votes at the meeting, and the result would have been "a continuation of the uncontrolled scramble for stocks".
The talks produced marginal increases on last year's allocations to Irish fishermen in a number of key fisheries - Celtic Sea and North Western herring, mackerel, blue whiting and white fish stocks such as cod, haddock, hake, megrin and plaice - despite attempts by the Commission to set far lower levels of catches.
But when the Council came to try and set a total allowable catch (TAC) for horse mackerel, and then allocate national quotas, Irish negotiators found they were losing an important tactical battle.
Ireland's allocation was 26.5 per cent of the TAC - an acceptable 73,400 tonnes for 1997 - but the Minister protested bitterly that while Ireland's share was being set on the basis of clearly recorded landings, others were using notional figures. The fear was that, once set, the quota would become unalterable in future years.
Fishermen's representatives called on the Government to back a fundamental review of the Common Fisheries Policy in the wake of the deal.
Dr Woods could not be expected to "bat on his own" in an annual exercise which was a "total sham", according to the Irish South and West Fishermen's Organisation (IS&WFO).
The Foyle Fishermen's Co-Op in Donegal said the negotiations are "in the realms of Hans Christian Andersen".
The Fianna Fail MEP, Mr Pat "The Cope" Gallagher, said last night he was very disappointed with the deal, which was particularly poor in relation to the shareout of horse mackerel or scad. The Minister for the Marine had done his best, but he had been outvoted, Mr Gallagher said.
The Fine Gael marine spokesman, Mr Michael Finucane, said the deal was "very disappointing" and questioned the wisdom of walking out. Holland appeared to have "out-manoeuvred" Ireland on the share of horse mackerel or scad, he said.