THE Irish Fish Producers Organisation (IFPO) is concerned about alleged irregularities in the granting of herring and mackerel quotas by the Minister for the Marine, the High Court has been told.
Mr James O'Reilly, senior counsel for the IFPO, and one of its members, a Co Mayo fisherman, Mr William Oglesby, said the Minister was obliged to take measures under the Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union for the conservation and management of Irish fishing waters.
The Minister regulated fishing for herring and mackerel under an EU licensing system which obliged him to divulge detailed criteria governing the granting of herring and mackerel quotas, the IFPO claimed.
Mr O'Reilly, who appeared with Mr Conleth Bradley, said the IFPO had written to the Minister asking him to state what those detailed rules were and had been unable to get a satisfactory answer. "We simply cannot get a straight answer to what is a very simple question," Mr O'Reilly told the court.
Mr Justice Brian McCracken granted the IFPO leave to challenge the Minister's quota system and his alleged refusal to divulge official reasons for determining specific quotas.
The IFPO claimed the Minister had granted fish licences "on an irrational basis with discriminatory and disproportionate results."
As a consequence a small number of vessels had a vastly enhanced herring and mackerel fishing capability while others, such as Mr Oglesby's trawler, the Killala based Maureen Rose, had been prevented from fishing for such species.
It alleged the Minister's adopted practice was in conflict with the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy.