Talks about the future of Europe's fishing industry remained deadlocked in Brussels last night as fisheries ministers prepared for a long night of wrangling.
The Minister for Communications, the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Ahern, said yesterday afternoon that there was little prospect of agreement.
"We'll be here this time tomorrow in relation to these issues," he said.
Fishermen fear that tens of thousands of jobs could be lost throughout Europe if ministers agree to drastic cuts in quotas for some stocks. But the European Commission argues that, unless catches are reduced substantially, some species, such as cod, could become extinct.
Apart from cutting quotas, the Commission wants to reduce the size of fishing fleets and to limit the number of days each month that fishermen may go to sea. Most member-states back the Commission's proposals but a group of countries called the Friends of Fishing - France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain - is blocking agreement.
The Friends of Fishing are united on some issues but deeply divided on others, such as Spanish access to the Irish Box, an area stretching 50 miles from the Irish coast. Mr Ahern acknowledged that the Government is isolated in its insistence that Spanish trawlers should continue to be forbidden to fish in the Irish Box.
"In some areas, we are working as a bloc with other countries but in some areas we're on our own. At the moment, the Spanish have a simple view that they are being discriminated against and that that should go by the end of the year," he said.
A Commission spokesman said that although the dispute over the Irish Box is not strictly part of the general negotiations on the Common Fisheries Policy, it was important that a deal should be worked out this week.
"Politically, this is the time to get an agreement," he said.
