Mr. Michael Kingston:

I might hand over to Mr. McCarthy presently after briefly discussing other parts of the general scheme that have been added as extras in addition to the substantive issue, namely, the renewables legislation and the safety of life at sea legislation. The Cape Town Agreement for fishing vessel safety, which was agreed in 2012, is the latest iteration of a world drive to try to put in place an international regime for the safety of fishing vessels of more than 24 m in length that operate on the high seas or are involved in illegal, unreported and regulated fishing and all sorts of other substandard activities, and the world is so close to implementing it.

Ireland has its provisions in our national legislation through a 1997 European directive, so it will be no skin off our back to ratify it through Parliament to assist the international regime to get to the threshold of 22 nations and 3,600 vessels whereby it will come into force. Working with the International Maritime Organization intensively on this issue, we have been begging nations to ratify the agreement, yet it is just an administrative issue for Ireland. I have worked with so many other nations on it. Belize and Peru have just ratified it, while South Korea and China are in the process of doing so. We are at 19 nations. It is about Ireland stepping up to the mark to fulfil our international obligations to protect seafarers throughout the world and have the first ever regime for the safety of fishermen. As a matter of national duty and pride, it should be done and there is no reason it should not be added to the end of this legislation. It should have been done in the interim legislation. We promised the International Maritime Organization that we would do it by October 2022 but it is not appearing anywhere on any legislative radar.