Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When the Minister was the Fianna Fáil spokesperson on agriculture and food, his colleague, the then Deputy, Pat The Cope Gallagher, was the spokesperson on the marine. As the Minister knows well, he had serious problems with the penalty points system that was being introduced in a statutory instrument by the then Minister, Deputy Creed. He worked with the industry to try to find a formula that would be reasonable and fair. The industry is not opposed to penalty points being introduced. The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, spoke in the Dáil in the annulment debate where the then Deputy, Pat The Cope Gallagher, put forward the annulment motion and he supported it. Deputy Micheál Martin, now Taoiseach, and other colleagues of his supported it. For the first time in the history of the State a statutory instrument was annulled. That was the right course of action considering that the Supreme Court and the judicial system had found what was put forward previously as repugnant to people's rights and our laws. That was the stance the Minister took at that time and it was the right one.

The then Deputy, Pat The Cope Gallagher, worked with the industry and put forward changes that would be fair and balanced, but the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, in its wisdom, continued on that path again. This time, the Taoiseach, who was the acting Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, introduced pretty much the same penalty points system as Fianna Fáil had voted down in opposition and now we have this legislation which is in the same spirit. The fundamental issues are that any person in this country should have a right to be presumed innocent and not be charged with an offence unless it is beyond a reasonable doubt. That is the threshold that is there in law to protect citizens, but what we have stated here is the "balance of probabilities", and the problem with that phrase is that it captures the cultural attitude of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and other people who work for the State towards fishermen. They are presumed to be committing offences and if, on the balance of probabilities, we can find them guilty, we will convict them. It is a shocking state of affairs. I do not believe we would accept citizens being treated like that anywhere else in Europe, in particular people who have to risk their life to earn a living. Fundamental anger is caused by this legislation.

If a case is taken to a court of law and an appeal is made and the person is successful, the points still remain in place. I have given the Minister an analogy previously. If any citizen is charged with a speeding offence and issued with provisional points subject to appeal and the appeal is successful, yet the points remained on the licence, could the Minister imagine the outrage, but that is how we want to deal with fishermen? What my amendment speaks to is the barrier to their right to appeal. The Minister cannot be immune to the anger in the fishing community. He has done online town hall meetings and a physical tour of harbours. He is meeting with fishermen on an ongoing basis. He knows how they feel and the anger at the weighing system on piers and harbours, which again was the outworking of a cultural attitude to fishermen that they are criminals. Now we have this arbitrary system in place, which I hope will be reversed very soon. We have a culture in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and in the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority which I hope to God changes very soon. One has to work with any industry. I accept there must be regulation and a penalty points system, but they must be fair and balanced, as all laws have to be. That is what we are getting wrong here.

I do not think the Minister is going to accept any Opposition amendments and that he is going to ram the Bill through Committee Stage today, he will ram it through on Report Stage and proceed on the path he is on. I ask him to take on board what I say to him today. He should know from all the meetings he is having that there is a real sense from the inshore fleet, the offshore fleet, the approximately 2,000 boats we have in the fleet around the island, that they are being criminalised. They are being viewed as criminals. They feel constant anxiety about what they are doing. That is wrong. This legislation gets the balance terribly wrong. The Minister knows that in his heart. He took the right decision at the time with the then Deputy, Pat The Cope Gallagher. This is the wrong approach now.

That is the commentary I want to put to the Minister today. I appeal to him to change direction. If he does not do so today, I appeal to him to reflect on the debate today and to change direction. Many good people in the fishing industry are speaking to him and telling him this. He should listen more to them and less to the departmental officials who are advising him. That is the best favour I can do him, to advise him to listen more to fishermen around the coast about their real-life experience and less to the departmental officials who advise him, because to be frank about it, they are completely out of touch with fishing communities. I have discussed the amendment. I will not take the opportunity again to talk about the wider problems with the Bill and will focus on dealing with each amendment in turn.