Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

I thought the Minister said he would support it in Private Members' business. The Bill is an opportunity to bring the rest of the UN convention into Irish law and would greatly strengthen our powers in many aspects.

I have outlined the views of the Labour Party. We oppose the Second Reading of the Bill under discussion because it raises many contentious and serious issues which have not been addressed. The presentation of the Bill was disastrous in that it was published suddenly with a total lack of consultation. We accept the need for a serious control regime because sustainability and profitability go hand in hand. There will not be any profitability without sustainability. However, concerns have been expressed worldwide about the sustainability of our marine ecosystems and resources.

The fundamental problems with the Bill include the levels of fines and penalties in Chapter 4, the lack of consistency with the regimes of our EU partners, the genuine concerns raised by representatives of fishermen and maritime communities about criminalisation, the failure of the Common Fisheries Policy in monitoring and the issue of the role of the seafood control manager. Those are serious issues on which there should have been wider consultation in the preliminary discussion of the Bill. For that reason, I oppose the Bill. I have other minor concerns about the Bill but the circus surrounding its publication is a valuable lesson in how not to produce and bring important legislation to and successfully through the Oireachtas.

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