Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 4, to delete lines 14 and 15 and substitute the following: “(i) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):

“(a) upon—

(i) the application from any person, in such form as the Minister decides, or

(ii) the Minister’s own initiative, in respect of any person,

who—

(I) is the owner of an Irish sea-fishing boat which is entered in the Register of Fishing Boats, and

(II) to whom a sea-fishing boat licence has been granted,

and”,

and”.

Section 4 makes various amendments to section 13 of the 2006 Act. Section 4(a)(i) corrects a typographical error in order to make clear that only a person who is an owner of an Irish-registered sea fishing boat and to whom a sea fishing boat licence has been granted under the Act can apply for or be granted a fishing authorisation under section 13. Section 4 provides a statutory basis for the issue of authorisations in an electronic format.

Section 4(b) deletes unnecessary words. “Owner” is defined in section 6 of the Act of 2006 as including a charterer and hirer as well as the owner of a sea fishing boat, as the case may require.

The amendment at section 4(c) follows on from the amendment provided under section 4(a)(ii) by requiring that a printed copy of an authorisation issued in electronic form be kept on the boat concerned.

These amendments relate to section 13 of the Act of 2006. This section provides that the Minister may determine under what circumstances an Irish vessel will require an authorisation from the Department to fish for particular stocks. The Minister will issue such authorisations to appropriate vessels and, as part of this management process, approximately 2,000 authorisations and amendments are issued each year.