Donegal TD (Teachta Dála, a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas or the Irish Parliament) and Sinn Féin’s Spokesperson on Fisheries and the Marine, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn has slammed both the British and Irish governments over their failure to reinstate access for Irish fishermen to the 12 mile limit around Rockall.
The Inishowen-based TD said: “Since the EU/ UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement came into effect two years ago, our Donegal fishermen have been blocked by the British authorities from fishing in their traditional fishing grounds in the 12-mile limit around Rockall. I have raised this repeatedly with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for the Marine, Charlie McConalogue and still, there is no sign of a solution.”
He continued: “Minister McConalogue has admitted that this unilateral action by the British government has cost our fishing industry up to €7 million every year. Considering that Brexit has already cost our fishing communities €43 million every year in lost fishing quota, it is astonishing that our government has allowed this outrage to continue.
“There can be no justification in international law for this blockade and I again appeal to our Ministers and government to stand up for the rights and livelihoods of our fishermen”.
Often described as the world’s most isolated islet, Rockall is an uninhabitable granite islet situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, which has been the subject of ownership claims for decades.