Over 20 Fishing Vessel owners have been given leave by the High Court in Dublin today to commence Judicial Review proceedings seeking an Order quashing the introduction of the Policy Directive and supporting Statutory Instrument which prohibit vessels over 18 metres trawling within 6 nautical miles of the baseline.
These measures become fully operational on the 1st of October 2026 following their introduction by Timmy Dooley, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and the Marine. The Applicants are challenging the lawfulness of the measures on several grounds including failure to comply with the terms of the UK/EU Trade Agreement on Fishing and lack of scientific investigation.
The Application granting leave will be back before the Court on the 14th April after service of the proceedings on the Minister.
An application seeking leave to commence Judicial Review Proceedings against Police Directive 1 of 2025, signed by Minister Martin Heydon & Minister Timmy Dooley in September 2025, was lodged by the fishermen’s legal team with the High Court in December 2025.
The appeal to the ban has been submitted by a large group of vessel owners from both sides of the border in an All-Ireland effort to get the ban quashed on several legal arguments. The appeal will highlight the effect the ban will have on all over 18mtr vessels and not just the ones targeting Sprat.
The legal arguments raised are believed to much broader than the ones that led to the quashing of the previous ban in the 2021 Court of Appeal decision.
