#Fishing - The crews of 15 fishing vessels in Wexford operated by the O'Flaherty brothers have been temporarily laid off in a dispute over regulations, as RTÉ News reports.
It's emerged that the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority last week issued orders for all 15 boats in the O'Flaherty fishing fleet to cease operations immediately, days after two boats were recently questioned over alleged infractions of fishing regulations.
The Department of Agriculture and the Marine has not commented on the reasons for issuing cessation orders to the O'Flahertys.
Seamus O'Flaherty - one of four brothers who operate the Kilmore Quay-based fleet - was in the news this time last year when he gave away free monkfish to the public on the quayside after exceeding the EU quota with his catch.
Jimmy Byrne, skipper of the O'Flaherty-owned Saltees Quest, defended the display as a protest against the EU mandate to discard all over-quota fish at sea - a practice that is hoped will come to an end with the new Common Fisheries Policy.