Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I did make that point. The sea fisheries and maritime jurisdiction (amendment) Bill, whose heads will probably be referred to this committee, is to provide for a points system for skippers of fishing vessels found to have infringed the CFP and to introduce fixed penalty notices for minor offences. As I understand it, the statutory instrument concerns serious offences, but the discretion that might be included in the amending legislation might involve a system more akin to the penalty points system applicable to road traffic, whereby points are eliminated after two years. If one accumulates 12 over a certain period, one is off the road. Perhaps such a system for minor offences can be applied in the fishing industry.

I asked what sanction exists for non-Irish fishing vessels in the context of the serious offences that are included in respect of the 12 awardable points.