AN TAOISEACH HAS said he would be worried for the safety of local fishermen, if they insisted on fishing near an area set to be the focus of Russian naval exercises.
The artillery drills are due to take place at the start of February in international waters but within Irish-controlled airspace and the country’s exclusive economic zone, causing
considerable upset and controversy.
Representatives of the Irish fishing industry met the Russian ambassador to Ireland yesterday.
Speaking after talks with Yury Filatov, Brendan Byrne, chief executive of the Irish Fish Processors and Exporters Association, said an agreement was reached that there will be a “buffer zone” between Russian vessels and fishing trawlers.
The Russian Embassy press secretary said in a statement that this “is not true”.
Brendan Byrne told The Journal today that it is just a “degree of nitpicking on language”.
“Both parties would be better served if they examined the exact areas where both will be operating on the days in question,” Byrne said.
“When you apply the coordinates for the Russian drill area and the coordinates for the porcupine Bight [fishing area], you will discover if you go to that extent that there is an already-made buffer zone between both of them.”
Describing the meeting as “good” and “productive”, a spokesperson for the Russian Embassy said that Filatov told the fishing representatives “that these drills will not do any harm to their interests” and that he “urged them to refrain from any provocative actions which might endanger all involved”.
Filatov has been asked to appear before the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee to take questions on the row and the tensions at the Ukraine-Russia border.
Today, Taoiseach Micheál Martin was asked by reporters if he had any advice for the Irish fishermen working in the waters.
“I think people, first and foremost, have to be conscious of safety. And in our view, that is not exactly the safest thing to be doing – to be fishing close to where military drilling is taking place,” he said.
“We will, at some stage, engage with the fishermen on this and take advice on that, but there needs to be balance here and proportionality in how this is addressed, but safety always has to come first.”
The Department of Transport has issued a marine notice that the Russian navy is set to carry out manoeuvres off the south-west coast from next Thursday.
Martin said he was still “hopeful” that conflict can be avoided between Russia and Ukraine.
“First of all, we would hope that dialogue can triumph here. And as long as people are talking I would still have hope. In terms of the major players here, it is extremely important that we avoid conflict,” he said.
“First of all conflict leads to unnecessary loss of life. The situation here doesn’t merit any military conflict at all.”
He acknowledged that any conflict or sanctions imposed on Russia would have a detrimental economic impact on Ireland.
“If conflict starts there will be economic consequences and repercussions which will damage the entire world, Europe and of course this country also.”
“No one can escape the consequences of sanctions entirely and that is an unfortunate reality,” he told reporters in Cork.
Additional reporting by Orla Dwyer.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say