Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I start by thanking Deputy Pat The Cope Gallagher for putting forward this motion, which is hugely important to the constituency I represent in Cork South-West, where fishermen put their lives at risk on a daily basis from Castletownbere right down into Bantry and Schull. These were once mighty ports with mighty fishing vessels coming out of them, all the way down to Unionhall and Kinsale. That has withered away, bit by bit, because successive Governments have not stood by the fishermen.

I have no problem making it known that I am totally against the recently published statutory instrument, which was set to introduce a penalty points system for fishing infringements. This proposed points system is completely unfair to fishermen. Not only can points be allocated to the fisherman's licence, they can be imposed on the fishing vessel itself. Why should fishermen suffer for the actions of others? Have our fishermen not suffered enough? They have suffered at the hands of a previous Government in 2007, when a drift-net ban was put in place. It was promised at the time that this would be reviewed after seven years. It is now 2018 and nothing has been done about it. In short, fishermen need more support from our Government. The drift net ban needs to be reviewed immediately if fishing and coastal communities are to survive.

Two High Court judges and the Supreme Court struck down the previous penalty point statutory system introduced by the then Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, in a case brought before the courts by two Castletownbere fishermen. It is quite extraordinary that despite that fact, the current Minister, Deputy Creed, has decided to try to enforce European Union penalty points legislation by means of another statutory instrument without proper debate in this House and without a proper consultation with the industry. I am extremely happy that the two Castletownbere fishermen ensured that the previous statutory instrument was struck down by the Supreme Court. I am reflecting the anger within the fishing community up and down our coastline. The fishermen had to go to the courts and expend enormous amounts of hard-earned money. The Minister and the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, were wholly dismissive of the concerns of fishermen when they first decided to introduce penalty points. Unfortunately, despite the kicking the Minister and the SFPA received from the courts when the previous legislation was struck down, it appears that this Minister is hell-bent on reintroducing the legal concept of administrative sanctions while repeating mistakes made with the previous legislation.

For the ill-informed, I wish to make clear that this statutory instrument repeats mistakes made in the previous one. This Minister insists on attempting to repeat the imposition of concepts of punishment that are wholly novel in an Irish context. The result of the introduction of these regulations and this form of punishment is that fishermen will once again suffer from a double exposure to crime and punishment. They can and will be prosecuted before our criminal courts by a closed administration system organised and run by people nominated and staffed by the Minister or the State. We need to support the hard-working fishermen of this country. I understand that some form of control system needs to be implemented, such as maybe a yellow card system. There should be proper deliberation, giving everyone the opportunity to speak about the system and the problems with it.

We need to stop pandering to Europe. That is all we are doing - pandering to Europe the whole time. With any issue, whether it is agriculture or fisheries, we pander to Europe and lie down for it. We need to consult with the men of the sea who have been chased out of our own waters for years with little or no support. Brexit is going to prove to be another nightmare for Irish fishermen. I call on the Minster to stop compounding the difficulty with further severe punishments and to stand by our fishermen.

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