Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

The Labour Party also opposes the guillotining of the Bill. We will only be allowed to speak for three and a half hours on the future of 8,000 people working directly in the fishing industry. Approximately 40,000 additional people depend on the industry day in day out. They do the most dangerous job in the country's economy. Their future is on the line.

Instead of having a reasonable process of consultation on the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Bill over many months with this House and stakeholders, the Minister dropped it on us without warning as a fait accompli in early autumn. He gave the committee very little time to discuss it. It goes without saying that our party is bitterly opposed to illegality in fishing or in anything else. We believe the most severe criminal sanctions should be used against that type of behaviour. However, I agree with the leader of Fine Gael that it is astonishing that a Government entering its tenth year did not deal with problems in that industry under existing legislation. It is also astonishing that the three Ministers with responsibility for the marine who served during the past nine years did not improve the situation regarding the administration of the industry. Not only that, but the first of them, Deputy Fahey, made it a great deal worse and made it impossible for our country to argue its case fairly on the Common Fisheries Policy at European level.

It is disgraceful that we finally got a chance to hear this in committee last week and now vital issues will be discussed in only three and half hours, particularly the issue of administrative penalties. For a long time, the leader of the Labour Party has questioned the Taoiseach directly on the constitutionality of administrative penalties. The Taoiseach told him in a letter approximately two years ago that administrative penalties were constitutional and could be included in legislation. The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey, has conceded——

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