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

It strikes me as a weighing system that a High Court judge has said should be brought into being and I do not believe you can get a better system than that. The issue is putting it into the control of somebody who is not part of the industry. In my simple brain, it seems quite straightforward to resolve if the authority has the will to do so. I hope it does because we should not be here today. It is terrible we all must be here today.

The final area I want to probe is risk analysis and what is available to the authority. There is the electronic fishing log and it was said earlier that the European Commission's view is that Ireland is the most compliant state in Europe in respect of regulations. That would make the authority the strongest regulator. There are electronic fishing logbooks, vessel monitoring systems, VMS, data, the dipping of refrigerated seawater, RSW, tanks and overt surveillance of vessels landing. All this is required for the authority to fulfil its task. There is covert surveillance and it can carry out joint operations with the Garda and Revenue Commissioners. I understand there can be phone surveillance as part of joint operations, if required. Will the witnesses confirm it has all those powers, either solely or jointly with the Garda or the Revenue Commissioners?