Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

Ireland holds a very important position as custodian of some of the largest and richest fishing waters within the EU and in our location on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Ireland continues to maintain high standards in the enforcement of regulations within the exclusive fisheries zone using the resources of the Naval Service, the Air Corps and the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority.

Systems for dealing with infringements of the Common Fisheries Policy vary greatly among member states and useful comparisons are not easily drawn. Many continental legal systems are different from that of Ireland and lend themselves to a structure of administrative fines and penalties. Previous advice from the Attorney General indicated that under the Irish legal system the types of penalty Ireland is obliged to apply under the Common Fisheries Policy would be viewed as criminal in nature and, therefore, could only be administered by the courts by virtue of Articles 34, 37 and 38 of the Constitution. Administrative fines for fisheries offences could be introduced in Ireland if this were a requirement under European law. I am supportive of any positive proposals from the Commission in this regard.

Under the current legislation, the Sea-fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006, all sanctions are purely financial in nature. The Act simply sets down the maximum fines that may be applied. No minimum fine is set and it is a matter for a judge, taking into account the specific case, to determine the actual fine levied. The Act also applies for the first time a scaled approach to setting maximum fines, whereby the maximum fines set for smaller vessels are less than those for larger vessels. In that respect, the 2006 Act sought to guarantee a degree of proportionality for fines based on vessel size, a factor which did not exist in previous legislation.

The Department is currently reviewing the operation of sanctions under the Act in light of experience since its enactment. Officials of the Department will be consulting with, among others, industry representatives, the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority and the Office of the Attorney General in the course of this review. The recent changes introduced by the UK authorities, whereby administrative sanctions have been introduced for a small number of minor offences, will also be considered as part of this review.

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