Mr. John Lynch:

On Deputy O'Sullivan's question, he is absolutely right in saying that prior to 2012 the fish were weighed in the factories, markets or auction halls throughout the country. In very limited circumstances where there were recovery measures - cod stock comes to mind - on one occasion a small percentage of that fish was weighed on the pier. Unlike the situation now where the scales have to be provided by the agent selling the fish, at that time the scales were provided by and the weighing was performed by the SFPA because it was part of a stock recovery programme. Other than that, the fish have always been weighed at the point of sale in factories or auction halls. The withdrawal of this derogation is really disastrous for all sectors but especially on those involved in the demersal fish and shellfish sectors who lands smaller amounts of fish in boxes that are packed in controlled conditions on vessels with refrigeration, ice and plenty of water on board for washing. When the fish are put onto the pier, these facilities are no longer immediately to hand. According to the sampling plan, all the fish have to be stacked on the pier and then sorted and weighed but there will not be enough ice to re-ice all of the fish. On the admission today of the SFPA, this will affect the quality of the product, but it will also potentially affect the condition of the product to the point that it may deteriorate enough to get contaminated and affect public health. That is, in fact, what is going to happen.

I cannot understand why no notice was given of the possibility of this happening. The first we heard of it was on the evening of 16 April, which was a Friday, so we had no opportunity to make any inquiry until the following Monday morning. We were told on a Friday evening, with no warning whatsoever, that in future all fishery products would have to be weighed on the pier. No accusation was made against the fishermen and no evidence was produced in the context of which they could defend themselves. Out of the blue we were just told to stop weighing in the auction halls and to weigh on the piers instead. That is unacceptable from a fisherman's point of view. It is unworkable. It is a danger to public health and also a danger to the health and safety of the people doing the work.

On the sea fisheries (amendment) Bill, we have the same problem in our organisation with the penalty points for masters. We would call it the main problem, in that fisheries offences are prosecuted under the Criminal Justice Act. If an offence is alleged by the authority, it will apply points to the licence and the Bill outlines that points will now apply to the master. On the case being taken to the court, and if the offence is subsequently found not to have occurred, the master will be found to be innocent of the offence, but the penalty points will be retained anyway. We cannot see any justice in this system. We cannot understand how this can be allowed in a country with a common law system. Once again, it is an imposition on fishermen that they cannot see the evidence and defend themselves in order to be proven innocent. Even if they are found innocent when prosecuted they must still keep the points.