The High Court has rejected O’Shea Fishing Company Limited’s challenge to the Minister’s provisional allocation of Ireland’s 2008 mackerel quota while allegations of undeclared landings in Scotland were under review.
Mr Justice Clarke ruled on 7 March 2008 that the December 2007 decision to allocate 65% of the quota on the previous basis, while withholding the remaining 35% for later adjustment, was within the Minister’s discretion. He found a solid prima facie case in evidence supporting the allegation that O’Shea Fishing was responsible for 16,032 tonnes of undeclared landings. That was an interim assessment, not a final finding of wrongdoing.
The dispute followed the court’s earlier ruling in Atlantean Limited v Minister for Communications and Natural Resources and Others, [2007] IEHC 233. In that case, the court found that the Minister had not used fair procedures before attributing undeclared landings to a vessel and reducing its quota. The Minister accepted that O’Shea Fishing’s original quota decision was unlawful for a similar reason and set it aside.
Two later ministerial decisions were challenged. The September 2007 decision kept the 2007 allocations in place because the year’s national quota had already been distributed and, in practical terms, could not be reallocated. The judge held that this was not a separate decision affecting rights that was open to judicial review at this stage. Its consequences were to be considered with any further relief arising from the original decision.
The December decision set provisional 2008 allocations after Scottish authorities supplied further documentation. The Minister said vessel owners could make submissions, and that the withheld quota could be adjusted in 2008 and later years depending on the review’s conclusions. O’Shea Fishing had sought more time to respond; the Minister granted a three-week extension, and the dispute over the evidence and any final deductions remained ongoing.
The judge said the Minister could reasonably proceed with a partial allocation rather than delay the spring fishery until every vessel’s case had been decided. The national quota was fixed, and spreading the interim shortfall across vessels facing no allegations would also have reduced their allocations. He concluded that the provisional approach was neither irrational nor beyond the Minister’s statutory discretion.
The court therefore found no legal basis to quash the December decision. It did not determine the final amount of any undeclared landings attributable to O’Shea Fishing or what its final quota entitlement should be. Those matters remained for the Minister’s review and any later judicial review. A request for an order requiring the Minister to allocate quota directly to the company was not pursued at the hearing.