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    From the Temple of Bars to Listowel Writers Week

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    Dermot McLaughlin mismanaged Temple Bar and, facilitated by the uncontrolled Arts Council which never took responsibility for failures in Temple Bar, is now arrogantly calling out mismanagement in Listowel. By Michael Smith Temple Bar Properties converted Temple Bar into a high-rent drink-driven cultural centre in the 1990s. Its focus then moved from physical regeneration to consolidating the cultural offering it was housing and, in 2006, it became Temple Bar Cultural Trust (TBCT), with a new board appointed by Dublin City Council. It was a private and limited not-for-profit company engaged in cultural development in Temple Bar, organising Temple Bar Food Market, concerts, circus, street, Culture Night and Handel’s Day. In 2005 it had an income of €2m, with €1.6m of this coming from its 50-strong property portfolio estimated to be worth at least €100m. Its CEO was Dermot McLaughlin, a 17-year Arts Council employee who had risen to become its assistant director. He was also a talented fiddler. Governance of TBCT was dysfunctional and in 2011 a review by Latitude, a consultancy, recommended it be wound up and subsumed into the Council. Independent City Councillor Mannix Flynn, a board member of TBCT, tabled a successful motion to that effect. The then city manager John Tierney agreed to commission a review of the organisation focusing on corporate governance standards, board representation and whether the trust was fulfilling its brief as a cultural promoter and enabler. However, a Council audit report published in March 2013 levelled charges of a different level of seriousness against TBCT, including failures of corporate governance and “control weaknesses and/or regulatory violations [that] represent unacceptable exposure and risk” for the company. McLaughlin remains a continuing consulting favourite for funding by the Arts Council of which he was once a senior employee The report found that the trust’s board minutes and papers were “not available” in relation to certain financial transactions, noting that TBCT’s business plan for 2010 and 2011 had not been approved by its board. There were found to be no appropriate financial procedures and the fact the same external auditors had been acting for over 10 years was deemed “in contravention of good corporate governance”. The party at most risk from these failures was the publicly-funded Arts Council which funds most of the cultural activity in Temple Bar, not exactly an oasis of private culture, to the tune of €9m in 2022. The Arts Council notably failed to investigate whether certain sums paid by it to institutions in Temple Bar were forwarded as intended to TBCT. A TBCT-commissioned review of the audit by former IBEC chief Turlough O’Sullivan found that the McLaughlin-fed board had “failed in its duty of oversight and governance by not enquiring into and satisfying itself that proper procedures were in place around financial transactions”. O’Sullivan was no subversive so it was telling that even he found this level of delinquency. McLaughlin resigned, agreeing not to pursue actions for defamation, and obtaining a substantial severance package after a disciplinary hearing into his role in offering generous redundancy packages to four senior staff members was cancelled. So what’s happened to the man who presided over the mess? Funny thing is McLaughlin doesn’t now mention his period in the van in Dublin’s Cultural Quarter. He remains a continuing consulting favourite for funding by his former employer, in the absence of a clear Arts Council policy on how it procures its consultants. According to now free agent Dermot McLaughlin he’s “been involved in voluntary work with organisations and on boards for many years. I enjoy being involved, I’m always interested in finding ways to help, and I love learning new things. So for me, voluntary work in enriching and valuable”. His voluntary work which came largely to an end after 2008 included spells as: Chairman (2011-2018) of Irish Traditional Music Archive; Chairman (current) of TG4 Gradam Ceoil selection panel (annual national traditional music awards); Chairman (2007-2011) of Dublin Dance Festival; Chairman (2007) of Údarás na Gaeltachta and Arts Council National Monitoring Committee on Gaeltacht arts; Board Member (2006-2008): Irish Architecture Foundation. Beyond this strings to McLaughlin’s bow include that he was: Board Member (2003-2005): Rough Magic Theatre Company; Founder and Board Member (1994 to date): Scoil Cheoil Frankie Kennedy; Founder and Committee Member (1982 to date): Cairdeas na bhFidléirí. In 2014 he set up his own independent consultancy practice, Creative Strategic Solutions. After that he was involved in the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Audit of Traditional Music in Northern Ireland (2014-15); the Arts Council’s review of contemporary music policy initiative (2015) Ealaín na Gaeltachta’s Competitive assessment of funding proposals (2015); and An Cosán Glas’s Business planning, negotiation strategy (2015). It’s amazing how far an unassailable relationship with the Arts Council can take a man. He also claims (admits?) he was involved in the “Meeting House Square €2.2m capital redevelopment, business planning and marketing project (2010)”. Sounds good, so let’s have a look at what the project architect says about this. Seán Harrington architects’ website is as sanguine as McLaughlin is about the situation. “There is a saying in Ireland that you can have four seasons in one day. Warm spring sunshine can lead to intense summer light. Lively autumn gales can turn to a sudden wintry shower because Irish skies are constantly changing. Seán Harrington architects was commissioned to find a solution. The innovative solution provides a convertible umbrella covering over a popular public square in Dublin Temple Bar area. The landmark umbrella projects bespoke design comprises of four 21-m high steel structural masts”. This is shameless and shocking when you realise the, admittedly attractive, umbrellas don’t work, never really did. In the last few weeks one of the brolly arms buckled and repair costs are so prohibitive as to make its reinstatement unlikely. The audit commissioned by Dublin City Council was particularly scathing about Temple Bar Square: “Board minutes were altered, deleting concerns raised by some Councillors, and provided to Ulster Bank to support a loan; Reams of financial data relating to the project were

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    Scappaticci, MI5 and the murder of a Westminster MP. The stench of death associated with the Kincora scandal is heady. By David Burke

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    The stench of death associated with the Kincora child sex abuse scandal is heady. It includes the murder of a Westminster MP by an MI5 agent inside the IRA. The murderous agent was Alfredo ‘Freddie’ Scappaticci. The victim was Robert Bradford, a member of the Ulster Unionist Party and the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party. He represented Belfast South. The death of Scappaticci earlier this year shut the door on the last realistic opportunity to solve Bradford’s murder.  Operation Kenova, which has been probing the Scappaticci scandal for seven years, and has cost approximately €40,000,000, is unlikely now to establish what took place. The killing was linked to the cover-up of the Kincora Boys’ Home scandal. There are other murders which are associated with Kincora. One of the most significant Loyalist terrorists of the period 1968-82, was John McKeague, a paedophile. He knew all about Kincora. McKeague was murdered by British agents when he threatened to spill the beans on the scandal. William McGrath, who was the ‘housefather’ at Kincora, was a British agent. He was involved in the clandestine importation of arms for Loyalist terrorists, including his own paramilitary organisation, Tara. Many people were shot dead due to the arms smuggling efforts of British agents inside Loyalist paramilitary circles such as McGrath. The cascade of death connected to Kincora did not end with murder. Sex-abuse victims committed suicide. One Kincora boy took his life after being violated by Lord Louis Mountbatten. Rishi Sunak’s proposed legacy legislation, if passed, will help conceal the full extent of State-Loyalist collusion, some of which was linked to McGrath. 1. Honey Trap MI5 and MI6 ran a ‘honey trap’ operation at Kincora Boys Home, a residence in Belfast for boys, aged 14 years and upwards, in the 1970s. Residents were trafficked to Loyalist politicians and paramilitaries, as well as VIPs, for sexual abuse. Some were molested at the home, others at hotels such as the Europa, Girton Lodge and Park Avenue in Belfast, as well as the Queen’s Court in Bangor. ‘Kompromat’ or dirt was collected about politicians and paramilitaries. Some were blackmailed into working for the intelligence services. The British Establishment applied a double coat of whitewash over Kincora in an attempt to cover up the full extent of this scandal decades ago. A lot – but not all of it – has been peeled away by survivors, whistleblowers and obstinate truth-seekers. 2. Driven to suicide Eric Witchell is a paedophile. He now lives in London. In the 1970s he ran Williamson House in Belfast where he preyed on pre-pubescent boys and young teenagers. He and his accomplices drove at least three of them to commit suicide; another two to attempt it. A select few were transferred to Kincora when they reached 14. Witchell was not interviewed by any of the various inquiries into Kincora. Stephen Waring, one of the residents of Kincora, ran away from the home in November 1977, a few months after being abused by Lord Mountbatten at Classsiebawn, County Sligo. Waring made it as far as Liverpool where he was captured and put on the Ulster Monarch car ferry destined for Belfast. He never made it home. Apparently, he jumped overboard to his death. His body was never found. The Garda have retained the security logs which record the visitors to Classsiebawn in 1977  but have declined to disclose them to me and Andrew Lownie, Mountbatten’s biographer. They undoubtedly record the arrival of Joe Mains, the Warden of Kincora, in a vehicle with boys, including Waring, who was seated in the rear. I am frankly aghast that the Irish government – which could intervene – has no interest in helping the survivors of sex abuse committed in Sligo by ordering Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to release the security logs. 3. A dismembered child’s body in the Lagan Brian McDermott, aged 10, disappeared from Ormeau Park on 3 September 1973. Part of his dismembered and charred body was found in a sack in the River Lagan a week later. The RUC discovered evidence that he was abducted and murdered by Alan Campbell, a founding member of the DUP. Campbell was also in Tara, a Loyalist paramilitary organisation, and was a friend of the paedophiles who ran Kincora. Colin Wallace, who worked at the British Army’s HQ at Lisburn, has told Village that the British Army, which had an interest in Tara, was alerted by the RUC that they were about to arrest Campbell. Then, suddenly, the police were ordered to stand down. Only the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) possessed that sort of authority. The security apparatus of the NIO was run by MI5 and Ministry of Defence officials. The manoeuvre ensured that the Kincora ‘honey trap’ operation did not unravel at that time. Significantly, Campbell was a British agent. Authors Jack Holland and Henry McDonald, referred to him as the ‘Demon Preacher’ in their books, describing him as an obvious British agent. Campbell and his cabal are suspects in the abduction of four other Belfast boys whose bodies were never recovered: Jonathan Aven, age 14, who disappeared on 20 September 1969; David Leckey, aged 12, who went missing on 25 September 1969; Thomas Spence, age 11, and John Rogers, aged 13, who both vanished on 26 November 1974. Had the RUC been permitted to arrest Campbell, it is probable that young Spence and Rogers would still be alive today. The BBC commissioned a documentary about the disappearance of these boys. It was completed in 2021 and entitled, ‘The Lost Boys of Belfast’. It was intended to be broadcast in May 2021 but was pulled by management. It is not certain if it will ever be aired. It uncovered evidence of MI5 involvement in the protection of Campbell and the Kincora cabal. RUC officers went on record in front of the cameras. Campbell was not interviewed by any of the various inquiries into Kincora. 4. The gunrunning operations of the ‘housefather’ of Kincora, William McGrath Colin ‘Jay’ Wyatt, joined Tara following the

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    Casement was straight and not a paedophile

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    Conor Lehihan probes ‘Anatomy of a Lie’ by Paul R Hyde. Sir Roger Casement was an icon for the British Empire in the Edwardian age. His two peripatetic reports on the degradation of natives and exploitation in the Congo and the Amazon were truly ground-breaking in the evolution of human rights. They were also solace for British people who had seen the imperial project discredited by the instigation of ‘Concentration Camps’ in the Second Boer War in South Africa. Knighted in 1911, Dublin-born Casement began to become more sympathetic to Irish nationalism due to his disenchantment with colonialism and a growing love for the Irish language. Significantly he never bothered to open the box containing the CMG that had come with his knighthood. He joined the Irish Volunteers and became a member of its national committee. He helped organise the Howth gun run and found a friend to part finance it. He later travelled to Germany, now at war with England, to enlist German support for a rebellion in Ireland. Before this, he had been in the USA to discuss his mission to Germany with Irish-American Fenians like John Devoy. Casement was caught landing arms at Banna Bay in Kerry and put on trial in London for treason. In an effort to discredit Casement, British officials claimed that he kept what became known as the ‘black diaries’ for the years 1903, 1910 and 1911, now kept in the public archive in Kew (London). They depict Casement as a homosexual who had many partners, had a fondness for young men and mostly paid for sex. The surreptitious campaign by the intelligence services was to frame Sir Roger as a moral degenerate who was owed no debt of sympathy for his earlier work on behalf of the Empire. Little difference was attached to the fundamental difference between homosexuality and paedophilia. Of course, prejudice persists to this day: it was revealing the online vituperation that greeted the advertisement in June 2023 by Kilmainham Gaol of ‘Pride Month Queer History tours of the Gaol’, much of it presumably from so-called republicans. The specific goal of the British establishment was to taint Casement to deny him a pardon from the death sentence in his trial for Treason in 1916. In his book, ‘Anatomy of a Lie’, Paul R Hyde shows that a British diplomat in Oslo fabricated a hasty report hinting that Casement enjoyed an “unnatural” relationship with his manservant. Hyde demonstrates through intense interrogation of the British documents the utter falsity of the original allegation. Furthermore, he discredits the effort by two Scotland Yard detectives to beef up the original Oslo allegation and gather reliable evidence which none of the possible witnesses were prepared to sign. Key figures from politics, the clergy, journalism and the administration were shown concocted details of Casement’s predatory sexuality allegedly culled from an actual diary that was forged from his own disparate notebooks and writings. When Casement heard of the rumours, he virulently denied they were in any way true; none of his close friends and colleagues ever apparently believed he was homosexual; and in the US and in Germany he was under intense surveillance yet allegations about his sexuality were never levelled Typed-up versions of the black diaries were circulated as the actual handwritten forged diaries had not yet been copied onto paper. The actual forged physical diaries were only produced after the smear campaign. The sheer detail of Hyde’s exegesis is impressive and reveals, point-by-point, the contradictions, factual errors and shoddy work the intelligence officers and policemen perpetrated in their effort to fit the spurious sexual allegations into the broader narrative of Casement’s day-to-day routine. Casement’s supporters have maintained his innocence. It has become an article of faith, particularly among supportive nationalists that the forged diaries maliciously rigged out a weakness for sex with young men, paedophilia; but that he was nevertheless homosexual. However, Hyde makes the point that none of the British and American surveillance threw up evidence of homosexual acts by Casement. In fairness to Hyde, he chooses not to enter into the debate about Casement’s sexuality but rather puts all his energy into proving that the black diaries are forgeries. Jeffrey Dudgeon, himself a distinguished gay-rights campaigner who published an edition of the diaries has also been cautious but in the end definitive. Noting that there is an absence of any evidence of heterosexual activity on the part of Casement, he has claimed: “His homosexual life was almost entirely out of sight and disconnected from his career and political work”. For this author, there is no evidence of homosexuality. For a start, when Casement heard of the rumours being circulated about him during his trial, he virulently denied there was any truth whatsoever to them. None of his close friends, including those that had worked with him as a professional, ever claimed before his execution or afterwards that they believed he was homosexual. Both in the USA and in Germany he was under intense surveillance. In the USA both the Fenians and British intelligence kept a close eye on his activities. The Germans and the Fenians both shared suspicions that Casement with his impeccable establishment credentials might have been sent by the British to infiltrate them. No allegations about his sexuality were ever levelled. Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive! Inference rather than proof may continue to dominate the controversy surrounding Casement’s sexuality and it has taken over one hundred years to disentangle the story to the point of informed and probable speculation. Scholarly writers and academic authors for many years accepted the authenticity of these forged diaries. However this, as Hyde points out, should not surprise anyone. Significant historians and hand-writing experts were all fooled by the famous Hitler diaries, with the elaborate hoax completed in a period of two years. The forgers of the Casement diaries did not have as much work to complete. The actual completion of the false narrative in physical form

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    Tubridy’s environmental heedlessness is on show with his motors.

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    RTE’s lead talent has rarely covered environmental topics and the range of gas-guzzling cars he drives goes some way to explain why. By Conor O’Carroll. Amid the ongoing controversy over payments made to Ryan Tubridy through a barter account by RTÉ as part of a sponsorship arrangement with Renault, his relationship with cars ought to be examined. Particularly against the background of the dramatic lack of environmental coverage showcased on his TV and radio shows down the years. Last week, People Before Profit TD, Paul Murphy, told the Dáil that The Late Late Show had covered climate change just twice in its history, questioning whether sponsors were exerting editorial influence over the show’s production. Renault has been the show’s main sponsor for eight years – the longest in its history – and details of the agreement between Renault, RTÉ and Tubridy are now the focus of intense public scrutiny. And it is difficult to forget Tubridy’s controversial comments on RTÉ Radio 1 back in 2019, where he criticised climate campaigner Greta Thunberg’s impassioned speech to a United Nations summit. He claimed that watching her, he wasn’t thinking about the climate. Instead, he appeared to focus on her appearance, describing “her face contorted in pain, in agony and in anxiety”, adding that he felt her campaign to save the planet was “not good for her mental health and wellbeing”. Tubridy continued his dismissal of Thunberg by suggesting she “return to the simple things”, such as being brought home to watch a movie or go for a walk, as if to say ‘leave this stuff to the adults’, whilst ignoring the fact that ‘the adults’ are part of the reason we’re on the verge of an environmental catastrophe. He later apologised for his comments. The reticence over environmental causes begins to make sense when examining Tubridy’s relationship with cars. It appears he favours a gas-guzzler. And of course, there’s the nostrum that you cannot convince people of the truth of something if their pay packet depends on not recognising the truth. The issue of RTÉ ‘talent’ receiving sponsorship deals to drive cars is far from a new phenomenon. Tubridy himself had a brand relationship with Lexus, signing a two-year contract with the manufacturer in June 2003 “to drive an IS200 and to participate in a number of Lexus customer events and promotions”. In an interview with the Irish Independent in 2004, Tubridy remarked how much he enjoyed the heated seats on his luxury car. Nice and cushy. However, those heated seats fell short, because after Lexus rejected Tubridy’s request for a larger, more expensive model, their partnership ended and Tubridy returned to driving a BMW, as he had before the arrangement with Lexus. Unluckily for Tubridy, it was around this time that the German manufacturer announced its decision to end its ‘brand ambassadorship’ programme, requiring several RTÉ ‘stars’ to return their sponsorship cars to the company. I drive an old car, it’s an ’07, but it’s a beautiful looking car Tubridy was not a part of this programme, though BMW did confirm he had approached the company about upgrading his current car to a newer, flashier model. Several years on from this, it was reported that Tubridy had elevated his choices, swapping his BMW for a swanky Jaguar XJ. It’s a brand he appears happy to promote, having been pictured alongside former Ireland and Leinster scrumhalf Eoin Reddan in front of a brand-new Jaguar F-TYPE in 2014 as part of the inaugural Jaguar Golf Classic for the Irish Youth Foundation. Jaguar Ireland insists that Tubridy has never been part of their ambassadorial scheme, stating that “while he may personally own and drive a Jaguar, that is not, in any way, directly linked with Jaguar”, and that “any attendance at events was also on a personal level and no way part of any partnership with the brand”. From here on, the make and model of Tubridy’s car of choice is difficult to pinpoint, though he is always quick to remind us of how old his car is. A 2021 interview with The Times makes pointed reference to the fact that the car parked in his drive is 14-years-old, and during a discussion of electric cars on his radio show in 2022, he repeatedly reiterates that “I drive an old car, it’s an ’07, but it’s a beautiful looking car”. Let’s face it: it’s not truthful to describe an old Jaguar as an old car: the connotation is misleading. These reminders attempt to convey a sense that Tubridy is ‘just like everyone else’, a narrative that has been truly shattered following the revelations over the past few weeks. It also doesn’t help that in 2020, before this grandstanding about how old his car is, he can be pictured leaning out of what appears to be a modern Volvo. It’s impossible to say whether this is the car Tubridy refers to, but the car certainly doesn’t appear to be 14-years-old. With such a list of petrol-burning automobiles, it’s little wonder that Tubridy’s environmentalism is elusive. Having suggested that Thunberg went for a walk, perhaps a humbler Tubridy may accept that he needs to get out of those cars to retain the public confidence on which his career depends.

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    Looking good for FIE challenge to EU’s inflated fishing quotas.

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    Radical opinion from the European Court of Justice’s Advocate-General suggests EU Commission is closing down the EU’s non-scientific, short-term, socio-economic approach to total allowable catches of cod, whiting and plaice when those overfished stocks are caught as inevitable by-catch. By Tony Lowes. The EU Commission dealt with this in a way similar to the ‘no more chocolate from Monday’ promise; because, if Monday is not understood as a fixed deadline, one will keep eating chocolate and Monday will never come The abundance of marine life described by fifteenth-century seafarers is almost unimaginable today.  As Callum Roberts records in his 2007 ‘The Unnatural History of the Sea’, they “described encounters with enormous shoals of fish that appeared almost limitless. The shoals were so dense that they could be seen from afar, darkening the surface of the water as far as the eye could see. The seas were alive with movement and colour as fish of all shapes and sizes darted through the water in a mesmerising ballet. The richness of the marine ecosystem was unparalleled, with an abundance of cod, herring, sardines, and other species that sustained both seafarers and coastal communities for generations. The seafarers spoke of a world that seemed untouched by human intervention, a paradise of natural abundance that existed in harmony with the oceans”.  In her support of the challenge brought to the European Court of Justice by Friends of the Irish Environment to overfishing in Irish waters, Advocate General Tamara Ćapeta cited the Irish spirit of the oceans, Manannán Mac Lír. “Such was the abundance of his crop in the waters surrounding Ireland that when consecutive Royal Commission examined the fishing industry in 1863 and 1885, the leading ichthyologists of the day concluded that the fisheries were ‘inexhaustible’”.  “Alas”, she continues, “they were wrong. Fish stocks are not a perpetual self-renewing resource, independent of human influence. As we have learned in this century, fish stocks require careful management in order to secure their survival”.   Friends of the Irish Environment, supported by the resources of Client Earth, challenged the quota for total allowable catches [TACs] set in 2020 for cod, whiting and plaice when those overfished stocks are caught as inevitable by-catch Friends of the Irish Environment, supported by the resources of Client Earth, challenged the quota for total allowable catches [TACs] set in 2020 for cod, whiting and plaice when those overfished stocks are caught as inevitable by-catch during fishing operations that target other stocks, undermining the principle of ‘Maximum Sustainable Yield’ [MSY]. To protect these species from being part of the inevitable by-catch the target fisheries would have to be closed to allow them to recover, with financial ruin running “from northern Scotland to the southern Azores”, according to the industry. Certainly, achieving the scientifically recommended TAC at ‘0’ for whiting in the Irish Sea would temporarily close the Dublin Bay prawn fisheries, as they inevitably catch whiting because of the way they must carry out their trawling.  As Ćapeta explains: “The concept of the Maximum Sustainable Yield (‘MSY’) is a harvest strategy globally used in fisheries. It assumes that there is a certain level of catch that can be taken from a fish stock without affecting its equilibrium population size. In essence, the idea is to harvest only the surplus of fish that naturally occurs as the stock reaches its equilibrium point and its reproduction rates slow down. Hence, by ‘shaving off’ that surplus, the reproduction rates remain maximised and the fish stock annually repletes itself without affecting its long-term survival”.  Forty years ago, the European Union brought in the Common Fisheries Policy to ensure the sustainable management of fisheries resources. Citing the subsequent EU 2009 Green Paper review of the Common Fisheries Policy Basic Regulation, the Advocate General reported that “the Commission then found ‘the [previous] CFP has not worked well enough” and warned that an “ecological and sustainable vision of the CFP is a far cry from the current reality of overfishing and decline in the volume of fish caught by European fishermen”.  According to experts, overfishing not only reduces fish biomass but threatens biodiversity, alters the marine food web, and degrades marine habitats. The experts estimate that in the EU at least 38% of fish stocks in the North East Atlantic and Baltic Sea, and 87% in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, are being fished beyond their maximum sustainable yield.  Hence, Article 2(2) of the 2013 CFP Basic Regulation provided that fisheries management “shall aim to ensure that exploitation of living marine biological resources restores and maintains populations of harvested species above levels which can produce the maximum sustainable yield by 2015 where possible and, on a progressive, incremental basis at the latest by 2020 for all stocks”.  Critically, Ćapeta rebutted the attempts of the Commission to claim to have amended the binding targets through other measures, such as the Western Waters 2019 Regulation purportedly providing “implicit amendments”. Such amendments, even if valid (which she held were not) are “not transparent for the public”. They are “the very enemy of transparent lawmaking”, undermining the “requirement to allow for participation in the legislative process”, especially when “it concerns amendments of core elements of policy which may be of interest to the public”.  As with many environmental restrictions, there is an argument for discretion, ostensibly here to allow the “balancing of the competing ideals of sustainability and fisheries management, on the one hand, with the economic and social objectives of the communities dependent on the sea for their livelihood, on the other”.   “To my mind, however”, the Advocate General continued, “as of 2020, Article 2(2) of the CFP Basic Regulation removed from the Council those elements of discretion which relate to the decision as to whether and by when to achieve Maximum Sustainable Yield levels for the stocks covered by the Common Fisheries Policy Basic Regulation. Indeed, I consider that, by setting a fixed deadline, the EU legislature aimed to prevent the Council from putting short-term economic interests before

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