Dr. Susan Steele:

We have not been asked to comment on the Maritime Area and Foreshore (Amendment) Bill, but we have submitted some suggestions on the Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction (Fixed Penalty Notice) Bill. We understand there will be further consultation later.

On how many prosecutions cases have gone to court and been won, the annual report lists each prosecution case. There are delays in the courts system. We prepare case files and submit them to the charging officer and the Director of Public Prosecutions. Roughly 80% of cases are still waiting to go to court. We are looking at other systems, for example, bringing some cases to the District Court, but because of the forfeiture system for gear, we end up in the Circuit Court and there are delays. We do not break down the cost of cases. When prepare a case file and submit it to a charging officer and the Director of Public Prosecutions, we have no awareness of the cost involved. I do not have statistics for the numbers of prosecutions we have lost. As every single case is listed in the annual report, I can give the figures included in it.

On whether Ireland is over-compliant and is there a much looser system in other countries, we have an extremely good working relationship with the regulators in other countries. Every country's regulatory system and how regulators act are examined by Commission inspectors. We are audited by them in many areas every year, as are the Spanish, French, the Dutch and every other member state. I do not believe there has been a relaxation in compliance in other countries. From the people I meet in each coastal state, there is determination to have a level playing field and to ensure the same rules are applied throughout Europe. A question was not raised about this area, but there is one issue about which we are very concerned and on which we have travelled to the Commission. When the points system was running, we applied points to foreign vessels, but the member states involved did not apply them to the licences of the foreign vessels. We are not content with this and will continue to make sure that if we apply points to a foreign vessel, they will be carried through to the licence. It is very important for the Irish industry that this happen.