Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The reason I asked the question is, as the Minister has acknowledged, that the Department's previous drafts of what would be a scheme were, unfortunately, rejected in our courts. We would expect, therefore, that senior Department officials would find out what is the acceptable European Union norm for this type of scheme. There is an important question to be asked. I appreciate that the Minister has a wide range of responsibilities with a brief covering agriculture, food and the marine and that he cannot be expected to read every single report from the European Union. I am not going to be unreasonable. It is, however, the responsibility of his senior officials to have read the report, Implementation of the current EU fisheries control system by Member States (2014-19). From the Minister's response, it is not clear if his officials have read the report. It is absolutely critical that they do so. Have they read this report? Is the legislation they have drafted for the Minister based on normal practice in the European Union? This is to meet the responsibilities under the EU directive.

There is a range of examples within the European Union with regard to the implementation of a penalty points system. This proposition has been rejected a number of times. One would imagine they would now want to find a system that is acceptable, that is the same as that in place in other member states and that seeks to do what is right. If the Minister does not have an answer to that question, I would appreciate it if the senior officials of his Department who correspond with the committee would follow up with the committee after this meeting confirming that they have read the report and also setting out how this legislation is in line with that report and with other European member state examples.