Fishermen reunited with NI trawlers seized by Irish navy

Two fishermen have been reunited with their Northern Ireland-registered trawlers after they were seized by the Irish navy, amid an ongoing impasse over fishing rights.

Jack Brown, 57, and 47-year-old Kevin Trainor pleaded guilty to breaching fishing regulations on Friday after their trawlers were seized in Dundalk Bay three days earlier.

Judge John Coughlan told Co Louth District Court that the men were people of absolute integrity, but he was bound by a Supreme Court decision which effectively banned Northern Ireland boats from fishing in Irish inshore waters.

The judge asked at one point if he could strike out the charges.

“It’s clear these are people of absolute integrity, and I should be as lenient as possible,” he said.

“This should be dealt with with absolute discretion, but I am bound by the Supreme Court. My instinct is to strike out the charge, but can I legally do that?”

A solicitor for the two men said that not being able to access their boats was “affecting them greatly” and that it was “unfortunate that Northern Irish fisherman are missing out” because of the Supreme Court ruling.

Judge Coughlan agreed, and added that he did not feel the men deserved any conviction.

They were given the benefit of the Probation Act and the boats were released early on Friday afternoon and returned to Kilkeel in Co Down, where they are usually based.

Both men left court after the judgement and travelled to Clogherhead Harbour where the boats had been kept.

The boats seized, Boy Joseph and Amity, were described as modest vessels with a total of five staff between them.

The Boy Joseph had just over €1,200 worth of shellfish on board when it was seized.

Amity had a haul of crabs and lobsters worth an estimated €2,000.

Both men have no previous convictions and fully co-operated with Irish police.

The move by Irish authorities comes amid an ongoing fishing dispute caused by the demise of an informal deal between the UK and Irish governments.

DUP representative for the Kilkeel area Jim Wells said the Irish navy had been heavy-handed.

“The men weren’t doing anything illegal - it was a gentleman’s agreement which is being contested in the courts,” he said.

“People in the community cannot understand how two little trawlers fishing for crabs started a diplomatic incident.

“All that was required was a chat with the two skippers, not something that could’ve blown them to smithereens if they wanted to.

“It's like something Arnold Schwarzenegger would have.”

The Voisinage agreement, which collapsed months after the Brexit referendum, was a reciprocal understanding between the UK and Irish Republic dating back to the mid-1960s.

It allowed vessels from Northern Ireland to fish in Irish inshore waters (0-6 nautical miles from shore) and vice versa.

But the agreement hit the rocks in late 2016 when a number of Irish fishermen took a case to the state’s Supreme Court, challenging the right of Northern Ireland vessels to fish in their waters.

The court ruled that Voisinage was an informal agreement of insufficient legal standing to formally grant access to foreign-registered boats.

That decision effectively banned Northern Ireland boats from fishing in Irish inshore waters - a move which affected fishermen north of the border who traded in species such as lobsters, crabs, mussels and whelks.

The UK has continued to recognise the Voisinage agreement, so Irish vessels remain free to fish inshore waters around Northern Ireland.