The Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) is to appear before the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Maritime Affairs on Tuesday (November 18)
The meeting takes place at 11 am in Committee Room 2 of Leinster House.
Commenting ahead of the meeting, committee chairperson Conor McGuinness said: “The SFPA is the independent statutory body responsible for the regulation of the sea-fisheries and the seafood production sectors.”
“It promotes compliance with the EU Common Fisheries Policy, sea-fisheries law and food safety law relating to fish and fish products, verifies compliance and, where necessary, enforces it.”
“The committee welcomes this engagement with the representatives of the SFPA led by its Executive chairperson, Mr Paschal Hayes,” he said.
“ Members look forward to a wide-ranging discussion on matters that fall within the Authority’s remit, including enforcement and sanctions, divergence in fisheries protection approaches across the EU, changes due under new EU rules from January 2026, staffing matters at the SPFA, and policing of harmful practices by non-Irish commercial fishing vessels operating in Irish waters,” he said.
“This meeting with the SFPA follows recent engagements with Irish fishing representatives to discuss their experiences of sea fisheries protection. This will form part of a wider Committee report into the topic for which the Committee has appointed Deputy Pádraig McLoughlin as Rapporteur.”
The Joint Committee on Fisheries and Maritime Affairs has 14 Members, nine from the Dáil and five from the Seanad.
The meeting in Committee Room 2 can be viewed live on Oireachtas TV.
Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.
