Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Perhaps I could clarify that case before members comment on it. It might be helpful. To be clear, in the light of the High Court opinion, the exceptional circumstances of the case and on receipt of legal advice, the Minister was agreeable to put the individual concerned back into his 2007 position in order to give his boat the mackerel and herring track record that would currently be associated with the vessel had it been licensed in 2007. We did that on legal advice, which was sound. I am sure I have answered a parliamentary question on this issue as well.

One of the reasons I was really slow to act, even in this case and even on a court order, was because of what we are experiencing here today, which is people using it as precedent. I was warned in the Department, and correctly, that anything we do for an individual boat will be used as precedent, because this is an industry that talks. Of course it does. We only acted in this case because of a High Court opinion that required a person and his vessel to be put in a position as if they had got their licence back in 2007. They did not, but the court determined that they should have. That was the position.

I must also say that I am legally precluded from talking about individual cases and court cases. I am not even mentioning people's names here. We can get distracted by this particular case, but this only happened because of a High Court opinion. This is not precedent.