Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

I move amendment No. 11:

In page 13, line 28, after "boats" to insert the following:

"including the requirement for every foreign fishing boat to report to an Irish fishery harbour or other port so designated by the Minister during each or any entrance by such a vessel into the territorial seas of the State".

The Minister made some useful points in his contribution. He also makes claims that have no basis in fact. There is a huge lacuna in the argument he makes. The gap is that within Irish waters we do not have serious control as regards foreign fleets, despite having the largest expanse of water in the European Union.

As I said on Committee State I sought in this simple amendment to give the Minister the power to require every foreign fishing vessel to report to an Irish fishery harbour or other port so designated by the Minister, during each or any entrance by such a vessel into the territorial seas of the State. There are amendments tabled in the name of Deputy Eamon Ryan and others which make the same point and seek to give us some definitive control in an area where we have none. The Minister said we should get our own house in order, but there are sister states in our "house". To get our house in order we have to get them in order. We will go out of the House tonight with a Bill which does nothing to get those states in order.

The Minister referred to Commissioner Borg and his country. I know they operate in different waters, but some of their catch records and those of Spain and France in terms of over-fishing and being over quota etc. are also disastrous. The Minister should have taken responsibility. This simple amendment and others seek to do this by getting some semblance of control over our seas. The Minister has never disputed what the Commodore of the Naval Service told us, namely, that he has no role as regards quotas or catches and cannot, in effect, introduce any type of penalty. The comment the Minister made on administrative penalties being applied to such vessels was ludicrous because it cannot have any impact in that context as we have no control regime. I ask the Minister to insert this into the Bill. He cannot say it will contravene the Common Fishery Policy. I cannot see how it would, given the current operational mechanisms of the Navy. However, it would give us deeper and more fundamental control. On that basis I want to press amendment No. 11.

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