Marine Minister Simon Coveney has brokered a deal at the EU Agrifish Council in Brussels which will mean that Ireland's whitefish quotas are going to avoid severe cuts and will also see a three percent increase in prawn quotas in 2015.
Prawns are the country's second most important fishery - the catch is currently worth €60 million each year.
This was expected to be a difficult meeting for the Irish Minister - the European Commission had proposed steep reductions in Irish fishing quotas. It had been suggested that Ireland's whitefish quota could have been cut by 20 percent, and the prawn quota by 14 percent.
Ireland has made some compromises - haddock and whiting quotas have been reduced by 12 percent. There will also be a 13 percent reduction in Irish fishermen's cod quota.
It had been suggested that Ireland's cod quota could have been cut by as much as 64 percent.
Hake quotas have been increased by 11 percent.
Minister Coveney has said that the deal agreed yesterday is worth €123m to whitefish fishermen in Ireland.
The Federation of Irish Fishermen (FIF) had previously called on the Minister to oppose Europe's proposed cuts, which it described as "neither justified nor warranted". It also suggested that the cuts could have cost between 500 and 600 jobs.
The Irish Times reports that FIF expressed concerns over a 'zero' total allowable catch for herring off of Donegal's coast in the new year. This decision will be revisited in February after a scientific review.
