Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Concerns were raised about section 15J(1) in the context of the equivalent provision in the licence holders points system in pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the Bill and on Second Stage in the Dáil. The issue of points being removed where the master is found not guilty in criminal proceedings in respect of the infringement has been raised. This proposal would involve both systems being interlinked and they would not then stand alone from each other. The points and the criminal prosecution are separate systems involving separate standards of proof. The amendment would lead to confusion and the conflation of evidence, and render elements inadmissible.

In addition, the legal advice it is clear that points under EU regulation are intended to be additional to a criminal prosecution. Accordingly, it could not be argued that Ireland has both criminal and points systems as required under EU regulation if we operated the system in a manner whereby the criminal proceedings completely eclipsed the points system. For these reasons, I am not accepting the two amendments.