Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister referred to a determination penal. First, who is that made up of? Second, it has been set on rules based in Europe. Some European countries have different rules in comparison with others. Who will have the final say on whether a fisherman has committed a minor infringement or a serious infringement? That is a serious issue. Who will have that final say? Is the panel made up of Irish people?

On the situation off Castletownbere that I still cannot seem to get an answer to and that the Minister states is not under his guise, at the end of the day surely the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, is answerable to someone and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine must have some answers made available to it when people's lives are at risk and there was, as far as I am concerned, a major infringement, because it was not only that they were fishing in Irish waters but that they were intimidating an Irish vessel. There does not seem to be any sympathy here for them. I could not get it on the day, I could not get it from the Taoiseach and I could not get it from the Minister. I cannot get it from anybody. Nobody knows. Is it all brushed under the carpet? Is it that we do not insult the Spanish, the French or whoever? Is the law of the land being applied the same to them as will be applied to Irish fishermen? That is a straight question that needs clarity here.