Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The third petition is No. 12 of 2023, “Justice & Safety” in the name of C.J. Gaffney. This petition relates to a request from the petitioner for the Government to compensate them out of the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund, EMFAF, which the petitioner states was offered at a meeting in Brussels and which the petitioner states is confirmed by the documents and by a radio interview supplied to the committee by Irish MEPs and senior EU officials, considering the unique and unprecedented circumstances of the case. The petitioner is also asking for an official and impartial investigation into all aspects of the case, for example looking at how such a dangerous vessel was certified as passing all stability criteria and continuously issued with valid sailing certification. The petitioner further states that the vessel was accepted onto the Irish register and issued with an Irish fishing license. As such, the petitioner wants to know what was the role of the Irish Marine Survey Office in handling this case. The petitioner has offered to provide numerous independent surveys, reports and professional opinions to make this a very quick and easy report to compile. They feel that on the grounds of health and safety, it will have a major impact by saving fishermen's lives across the EU. There is a lot of correspondence over and back. It is massive. This committee recommends that the correspondence from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine be forwarded to the petitioner for comment within 14 days. The correspondence from the European Commission is to be forwarded to the petitioner for comment within 14 days. The correspondence from the petitioner is to be forwarded to the Department of Transport for comment within 14 days. We will seek the advice of the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA, with regard to the issues raised in the petition. We will refer the petition to the European Parliament Committee on Petitions. Does anybody want to speak on that? Is it agreed?