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

I find this astonishing, to be honest. The sea-fisheries Bill is going through but it does not have a set fee for people who want to appeal their conviction and penalty points. The Minister says he wants to be reasonable. He could not be more reasonable than by including a figure of €25. My worry is that while this Minister might want to be reasonable, the next Minister might not want to be reasonable and might want to punish them more severely. If the Minister is going ahead with this Bill, surely he has a fee in mind already. What is that fee? Will it be €1,000 or €20,000? He is saying "reasonable". We could not be any more reasonable than by putting this amendment forward and seeking a fee of €25. If the Minister is not agreeing to that and if it going to be left to the decision-making of future Ministers in coming years, I shudder to think of what the fee will be. Is it going to be a stick to beat back the fishermen who want to appeal? If the rate for the appeal is set at a massively high figure, it will discourage them from going forward.

This Bill should be scrapped until a decision is made on how much the fishermen will have to pay if they wish to appeal, which they have every right to do if they feel they have been wronged. Irish fishermen and fisherwomen have been punished long enough in this country by hidden paperwork and Ministers going abroad and not fighting for their rights. We need to know here and now what the charge will be. That is all I ask. If the Minister will not agree with the €25 fee, he should tell us what the fee is. He cannot just say that he will tell us later when it happens. That is not good enough. We need answers here. This document is almost finished as far as the Minister is concerned.