§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the decision of the Government of the Republic of Ireland to ban fishing vessels registered in the Channel Islands from fishing within certain limits; and whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government to introduce a reciprocal ban of fishing vessels from the Republic of Ireland in the coastal waters around (a) the United Kingdom, and (b) the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithWe are unaware of a decision by the Government of the Irish Republic of the kind to which the hon. Member refers. However, we have received a report that one vessel registered in the Channel Isles has been convicted for fishing in Irish waters. Only those United Kingdom vessels which are registered in "Community territory" are in our view necessarily entitled to the use of fishing grounds in the waters under the jurisdiction of the other member States of the European Community, and this definition seems to have been interpreted by the Irish Court as excluding vessels registered in the Channel Isles.
The Government have no plans to change the rules which govern the rights of vessels from the Irish Republic to fish in British fishery limits except in the context of an agreed revision of the common fisheries policy.