Mr. Andrew Kinneen:

I will offer a few comments that might be of assistance to Deputies Collins and Mac Lochlainn. Deputy Collins highlighted the issues arising out of reports leaked to the media or information coming to the media that is detrimental to the reputation of the industry and so on. The SFPA can certainly speak for itself and we engage with media, as we should as a public organisation, but we never leak confidential material. I can give that assurance directly to Deputy Collins and to the committee. That is not our trade and function. We try to respond to freedom of information requests, the information access requests and the press queries. We try to engage to the level that we can. We are not in the business of leaking or briefing on the basis of confidential information. I give Deputy Collins every assurance on that point.

With regard to the judicial review, there are concerns coming from the contributions at the committee that we have been less than careful with taxpayers' money when we engaged with this judicial review, and around a lack of proper procedures on our part. I will offer some background to the committee for the record. A member of the pelagic fishing industry wrote to the Commission to complain about the levels of checks and controls and the difficulties arising with regard to the weighing of fish on the pier. The response from the Commission to that individual in the industry - it was circulated to us, so I can talk to the committee about it - was to offer the view that privately owned or operated weighing equipment was not appropriate given where we were with the administrative inquiry, the audit and so on. This point was made by the Commission to a member of the industry. The industry did not challenge the Commission on that. The SFPA found itself in the invidious position where we were trying to assess weighing equipment to try to hopefully sustain Ireland's status of having a control plan with the Commission. Being in a very difficult position, we sought from the Commission on several occasions more detailed information on how it would take the view and substantiate it in European law. In the meantime the industry, as it is entitled to do, initiated one of two judicial reviews involving the SFPA, one in particular involving the weighing equipment on the pier.

In general terms I would agree with the Deputy's remarks on the quality of that initiative. Hopefully, we will get all of those matters sorted. We are not in a position to engage in the approval of that equipment, as might be required under the statutory instrument and as we are required to do with the National Standards Authority of Ireland, NSAI.

As a result of the Commission's opinion, and we are waiting for that to be clarified, the judicial review proceedings were initiated. Mr. Justice Simons gave very clear consideration to the arguments offered by both sides and said that the SFPA was acting ultra viresin not going into an approval process on the basis of the Commission's opinion. We could not support the Commission's opinion of pointing to legal precedents. We have now had direction from the court. We are very mindful of the costs of those court proceedings. Again, that is not a matter of our choice. We engaged in those proceedings with every sincerity that we would work with the court, offer our affidavits and submissions and hear very clearly the outcome of the judicial review. We have given our assurances to the court that we would be following the judge's direction very clearly. We are not the author of any of this. We try to be bona fide actors in the process as matters go ahead.

This week we are in a position where we will be looking at a review of the equipment on the pier, in co-operation with the NSAI. We have also done thorough work on our own internal procedures and documentation of those procedures with regard to the management of applications, not just for this equipment but for weighing equipment in general. We have tried to learn from the experience in order for it to have a benefit for the taxpayer also.

I hope this helps to allay some of the Deputy's concerns with regard to the judicial review. It is a matter we did not take the initiative on but we certainly engaged fully once it arose and we are following the judge's direction very carefully at this stage.