Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I wish him well in his brief and look forward to working with him constructively. He is, like me, from a coastal county and knows well the concerns of fishermen and the sense that they have been criminalised. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has been focused on enforcing rather than facilitating and supporting our fishing community to take the maximum wealth possible from our seas in order to have sustainable communities all around the coast. I am really alarmed at the range of fishermen in every sector I have spoken to who have no confidence in those at senior levels in the Department. A huge gap of distrust has built up. That is the problem with this statutory instrument.

The Minister and his colleagues rightly challenged this two years ago and did something unprecedented in the history of the State, namely, voting down a statutory instrument and asking the Government and the then Minister, Deputy Creed, to go back to the drawing board. Over two years later they have still not listened to the concerns of fishermen.

I understand the Minister will meet representatives of fishing organisations early next week. It is imperative he addresses the real and genuine concerns of fishermen. I have yet to meet a fisherman who has said to me that he or she does not believe there should be penalty points. They all support the principle of penalty points but there has to be fair and natural justice and the right to appeal must be in place as it is for any other citizen who is accused of an offence. The High and Supreme Courts have rejected the propositions drafted by the Department on a number of occasions. The Dáil has rejected its proposition. When the Minister meets fishing representative organisations and listens to their constructive ideas, a solution can be found to meet everybody's concerns.

I look forward to his meeting with representatives. I am acting in good faith in not pushing our annulment motion but if we do not see a genuine attempt to address these concerns, we will have to put the motion before the Dáil eventually. I hope that will not happen.

See this speech in context