A NO-DEAL Brexit could lead to violence and “conflict at sea” around the Irish coast, the leader of one of Ireland’s main fishing organisations has warned.
Seán O’Donoghue, chief executive of the Killybegs’ Fishmen’s Organisation (KFO) said that if Irish and other EU fishing fleets were denied access to UK waters after midnight on October 31, there could be scenes of conflict similar to those in the “cod wars” of the 1940s, 50s and 70s.
His warning comes as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar predicted some jobs and businesses in Ireland could not be saved in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Mr O’Donoghue said that there would be “chaos and conflict at sea” with French fishermen blocking ports which would deny the movement of other products and not just fish. He said the problems would be particularly severe in the Irish Sea, north west of Donegal, off Ireland’s south east coast and across the English Channel and North Sea.
“The resultant disorder, chaos and most likely violence, will not be pretty. We got a taste of what can happen at sea last year with a scallop dispute between the UK and France in the Channel,” he said.
The KFO chief said the reaction of French fishermen would be the acid test. Mr O’Donoghue said French, Irish and other EU fleets would not respond favourably to being denied access to UK waters.
Meanwhile, Taoiseach, Mr Varadkar told the Dáil yesterday that there had been a low take-up of Irish government schemes to mitigate the impact of Brexit. In response to a question from Labour Party leader, Brendan Howlin, he said it would be prudent to prepare the next Irish budget with “a pessimistic scenario”.
