Ireland's Fisheries Minister Criticizes DAFM for Hiding Sector from EU Officials

Pat ‘the Cope’ Gallagher, vice‑chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, met EU Fisheries and Oceans Commissioner Costas Kadis in Cork and accused the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) of concealing Ireland’s fishing and seafood processing sectors from the EU delegation. Gallagher said the first informal meeting of EU Fisheries Ministers under Ireland’s EU Presidency was “missed” because officials “take unprecedented steps to hide and obscure them from the Irish fishing sector.”

He and Oireachtas Committee chair Conor McGuinness highlighted the loss of the Hague Preferences at the December 2025 Fisheries Council and warned that, since 2021, EU policies have cost Ireland €260 million in quotas while other EU members have increased fishing in Irish waters, depleting stocks across inshore, offshore, processing and aquaculture operations.