Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon TD travelled to West Cork this week for a constituency visit at the invitation of Senator Noel O’Donovan, taking in a meeting with fishing organisations in Castletownbere covering a range of issues affecting the sector.
The meeting was hosted at the offices of the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation (IS&WFPO) on the pier in Castletownbere, and brought together IS&WFPO members, an IIMRO representative, local processors, fish agents and aquaculture representatives. Heydon was accompanied by Senators Manus Boyle and Noel O’Donovan and West Cork councillors Caroline Cronin and Brendan McCarthy.
Among the issues raised was weeks of speculation over Heydon’s working relationship with Minister of State for Fisheries Timmy Dooley, which the Minister used the opportunity to address directly, telling those present that speculation about a change in working arrangements for EU Agrifish Council representation during Ireland’s EU Council presidency was wide of the mark.
“Things are working exactly as they have been”
Heydon told fishermen at the meeting that nothing had changed in how fisheries policy is handled at Cabinet since he took office.
“I am Cabinet Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. So when fisheries is discussed at Cabinet, that’s me. When there’s a memo to Cabinet, since I got this job a year and a half ago, I’m the person to bring it to Cabinet… That’s my job as senior minister,” he said.
He said he had personally pushed for the creation of a dedicated Minister of State for Fisheries when drawing up the agricultural chapter of the Fine Gael manifesto ahead of the last general election, describing it as “what the industry wanted”, and said his relationship with Dooley was close.
Presidency chair: “The right thing”
On the specific arrangement for Ireland’s EU presidency, Heydon said it was correct that he, as senior Cabinet minister, occupies the chair for Agrifish Council discussions, with Dooley seated at Ireland’s place at the table for EU Council meetings, including Agrifish and presidency meetings.
“During the presidency, you are restricted, you have to be that honest broker. The right thing is that the senior Cabinet minister sits in that chair… and Minister Dooley still does all that work. Everybody knows Minister Dooley completely has my back, and that we do that together, in partnership,” Heydon said.
He argued that any other arrangement would send the wrong signal to Ireland’s EU counterparts.
“How do you think it would look to other countries if the senior Cabinet minister for fisheries walked out of the room every time fisheries was being discussed? I think that would send a really bad message,” he said.
Nitrates derogation “not linked” to Hague Preferences
Heydon also moved to shut down suggestions that his engagement on the nitrates derogation was in any way connected to Dooley’s push on the Hague Preferences and related quota issues last December.
“In any dealings I had in the nitrates derogation, with EU Commissioner Roswall and all our officials, the only thing we discussed was water quality and the Habitats Directive in terms of nitrates… even the dates don’t align. So you have my word on that, that wasn’t the case,” he told the meeting, referring to EU Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall.
NIFA no-show draws sharp rebuke
After the meeting was concluded, NIFA separately issued a statement raising “legitimate questions of accountability” over correspondence released under Freedom of Information, including why a senior official would have sought to discourage a Minister from defending Ireland’s fishing opportunities, and whether that official was involved in reservations previously raised about the fisheries Minister of State role itself.
NIFA: Fishing Communities Deserve Accountability Over Dooley Correspondence
In a statement to The Skipper responding to NIFA, Heydon said:
“It was such a shame and very disappointing that NIFA decided to play games with their stance and wouldn’t show up to the meeting of a range of fishing organisations in Castletownbere to air and discuss their grievances. The meeting was hugely positive and proactive and I was very grateful to everyone who took the time out of their working lives to show up and contribute.”
“NIFA said civil servants have an essential role in advising Government. But ultimately, policy is determined by democratically elected Government and Ministers must be able to carry out that mandate. NIFA have the answer in their own statement, they are correct and I has always made the final decision on all policy and led all discussions on all EU issues I have responsibility for.”
“I am committed to continuing to work with all fishing organisations and support Minister of State Dooley in all his works.”
NIFA Response
Replying to the Ministers comment, NIFA confirmed they were invited directly but did not have a representative available as members were busy availing of the settled weather to go fishing or had prior family commitments.
A spokesperson for NIFA stated;
NIFA is disappointed by Minister Heydon’s suggestion that we were “playing games”. We feel this is an unfair characterisation of a voluntary organisation whose directors give considerable amounts of their own time to represent working fishermen.
On the day in question, our Chairman was unavailable due to personal circumstances. For our Vice Chairman to attend, he would have had to sacrifice a day’s fishing, travel from Donegal to Castletownbere and back, and cover those costs personally.
NIFA operates with very limited funding. While funding for Producer Organisations has been announced, organisations are still required to have the money available to meet costs upfront before eligible expenditure can be claimed back. For a relatively new organisation whose directors work voluntarily, this presents a very real difficulty.
This was not a refusal to engage. NIFA has repeatedly sought a meeting with Minister Heydon himself and we are still waiting. We therefore do not believe our inability to attend one meeting should be portrayed as an unwillingness to engage.
More importantly, the substantive question raised by Minister Dooley’s correspondence remains: why was the Minister responsible for Fisheries being discouraged from pursuing Ireland’s fishing interests because of concerns surrounding the nitrates derogation?
NIFA remains ready and willing to engage constructively. If Minister Heydon wishes to arrange the meeting we have repeatedly requested, he can contact us directly at nifa.secretary@gmail.com. We would welcome the opportunity to meet.”
Related reading on theskipper.ie:
NIFA: Fishing Communities Deserve Accountability Over Dooley Correspondence
Rift Widens Over Who Represents Irish Fishing at Europe’s Top Table
