Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As other members have said, this is about fairness and about what is right at this stage. There is a question where if one goes through a criminal conviction and the criminal courts find that no offence has taken place, these points should then fall off a licence. It stands to reason. While the penalty points regime is an administrative system, the penalties are very close to criminal sanctions in any event, which calls into question the very reasoning as to why they cannot fall off or why they are viewed differently. This needs to be addressed.

Obviously, the Minister will not take this on board because that is his remit. It needs to be flagged here at every stage because it is plainly wrong. The advantage of administrative sanctions is that the sanctions are supposed to be less than for the equivalent criminal offence. However, somebody can lose their licence and the means of making a living for themselves and their family on foot of the proposed sanctions. That needs to be addressed and the Minister should take it on board.

I do not believe the Minister answered the previous question as to whether Irish citizens need to be on the Irish register. If an Irish citizen is fishing a vessel in Spain, would they be on the Spanish register? If a French fisherman is living in Castletownbere and fishing an Irish vessel, is he on the Irish register or where should he be registered? That is important because we have seen that the administration of so-called justice or whatever within the fishing industry is very different in different states. It seems that vessels can be caught here for illegal fishing and then it is sorted out when they go home. Will that happen in respect of this legislation? How will that work?