Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The main purpose of this legislation is to enshrine European regulations into Irish law. The Irish fishing community must shudder with dread when it hears the phrase "new EU regulations". There have been many EU regulations placed on the fishing community and very rarely have they been introduced with the intention of making it easier to make a living from fishing.

The first thing to catch my eye in this Bill was the Irish fishing master register. The Bill contains details of all the information to be kept on each registered owner. It only allows for registration when the person is an Irish citizen and has fewer than 90 penalty points. It is, of course, welcome that we will have a registration system that does not allow foreign rogue traders or serial offenders, but what about those who will be required to register as skippers on work permits? Like many sectors at this time, there is a difficulty in sourcing staff of all kinds. We must not limit their availability to recruit on a work-visa basis when there is no one in Ireland who is available or who wants the job. The Bill also requires the master to furnish the Minister with such information as he or she may reasonably require and it will be up to the Minister to specify the format of applications. I urge the Minister in this regard, if this Bill passes, such information required will be kept to only the information that is absolutely necessary. I would not like to see a situation where honourable and genuine people are made to jump through unnecessary bureaucratic hoops in order to become a registered master or where they turn away from the prospect of registering if it becomes too onerous in nature and more about the paperwork than the master's ability. I hope the form and manner of the application process will be made user friendly, and multiple options, including online and traditional application methods, will be provided as this is a problem in many other sectors, not least the heavy goods vehicle driver licence sector.

In broad terms, I fundamentally support the idea that we need controls over those allowed to operate with a fishing licence in our waters. However, there are points in this Bill - many of my colleagues have raised them today - that are causing my fishing constituents great concern. I draw Members' attention to the section entitled "Assignment of points by Authority". When an infringement occurs, the Bill makes a distinction between how an Irish citizen should be treated as compared with a citizen of another EU member state. It states:

(a) in a case where the master concerned is an Irish citizen, notify the master in writing— (i) of it having been so notified, and

(ii) of the proposal to assign the appropriate points in accordance with Annex XXX to the Commission Regulation to the master for the serious infringement, (b) in a case where the master concerned is a national of another Member State, notify the master— (i) of it having been so notified, and

ii) that it is proposed to notify the competent authority of the Member State of which the master is a national of the detection of the serious infringement.

The Minister will see immediately that a non-level playing field will exist if this Bill is passed in its present format. An Irish citizen who commits an infringement in Irish waters will have penalty points applied by the Irish authorities. However, if a foreign master commits an infringement in Irish waters, he or she will not have penalty points applied by the Irish authorities. All we can do is notify the authority in the foreign master's country of origin. What mechanism will be used and how proportionate will the policing of foreign fishing boats be compared to Irish boats? We should have the authority to police our own waters as we see fit, rather than only being able to refer offences to other jurisdictions. It should not just be referred to the police force of the country of origin, offences committed in our waters or on our lands should be dealt with here. It should be the case in all matters. This is a fundamental issue. If this Bill passes, we will not have a level playing field as I have stated. We will not have the right to police our waters and we will not have the right to punish offenders in our waters. This is a very concerning state of affairs and I will not support it.

The Bill highlights the different levels of suspensions based on the number of penalty points accumulated. I wish to reiterate that I have no problem with Irish rule breakers facing sanctions. However, we could have a situation where foreign registered vessels that continually break the rules will continue to fish in our waters because we have no powers to deal with them. That is not proportionate. If the authority in the country of origin does not take action or is not a zealous as our own authority, the SFPA, or as it should be, we will have a two-tier system of regulation.

That cannot be tolerated. We must be able to penalise any vessels fishing in our waters.

I want to put a question to all my colleagues in the House who claim to represent fishing communities. Would they feel comfortable visiting their local quayside and explaining to the hard-working fishermen there that the Irish authorities have no power to penalise foreign vessels engaged in misbehaviour in our waters? Those fishers watch every day as SFPA staff board Irish vessels but leave alone the foreign-registered boats that unload beside them on the quay. It is totally demoralising for Irish fishers to see the Irish enforcement agency coming down on them while foreign boats go unnoticed. If colleagues would feel uncomfortable breaking that news, recognising that it clearly creates an unlevel playing field, then they must surely vote against this Bill as it currently stands. For Deputies who do not represent fishing communities or are not familiar with the fishing industry, I will use an analogy. Would they feel comfortable visiting a victim of a burglary and explaining to the distraught homeowner that even though gardaí know who the culprits are, they cannot punish those culprits because they are not Irish citizens? Homeowners would not accept that. Ordinary, everyday, hard-working people would not accept it. Fishermen, likewise, should not be forced to accept this Bill.

There has been much said about the Minister's visits to various places. I was invited to attend when he visited Wexford, but I have been left out of other Ministers' trips to the county. I entirely understand the feelings of my fellow Deputies in that regard. When a ministerial visit is happening in a county, every Deputy in the constituency should be invited. I appreciate that the fact this does not happen may have absolutely nothing to do with the Minister, Deputy McConalogue. However, I have spent some time in the House this morning trying to make public services and public servants accountable. The Minister has had his own personal debacle, where a press release detailing what happened during a visit was issued prior to the visit. I am sure he well understands the ridiculousness of something like that happening.

The fishermen and fisherwomen he met in Kilmore were very appreciative of his visit. He gave them more than two hours of his time. I am aware, indeed, that the visit did not come to a halt until 10 o'clock that night and the Minister was left looking for somewhere to eat. I know his job is not easy; nor is mine. We are all well-paid for what we do but that does not make it easy. However, I can say with certainty that the fisherman's job is extremely difficult. It is done in all weathers, facing all dangers, away from family and often onboard small or cramped vessels where fishers are mixing, working and living with people for days at a time. They must reap a reward for that because of the reward they bring to us. As I said last week in the debate on the Maritime Area Planning Bill, they feed us and they make our coastal communities what they are. We have renowned fish restaurants in this country. For a county of its size, Ireland has a tourism industry in which counties like Donegal and Wexford can equally share because we have such good restaurants. We are able to provide wholesome, tasty food from our natural resources. The Minister knows this is the case, as do I, because we are from fishing counties.

I know there are certain measures being brought upon us by the EU with which he does not agree. I do not agree with them and I do not think they should be forced upon us. At some point, we will have to renegotiate them, whether as part of a new Common Fisheries Policies, which I hope is imminent, or otherwise. We certainly must start to recognise the importance of our natural resources. We may have a small number of fishermen but their activity expands into a much wider community. They make possible the provision of fresh fish from our waters into our restaurants, thereby supporting the hospitality and tourism sector, which is massive. That is the community in which I live. I may be a long way from Gorey but although there is no fishing community there, that town certainly bears the fruits of the fish that come out of our waters and into its restaurants. It is the same in Donegal and every other county. I do not want to see our fishing industry denigrated by the EU because it thinks it is creating a level playing field. It is not doing so. Everything that is happening today, particularly in regard to fisheries, is having an impact. We must get on with developing our wind farm sector and that will also have an impact.

Unfortunately, I must take this opportunity to raise a more localised issue. During his visit, I introduced the Minister to Captain Phil Murphy, who works on behalf of Wexford County Council looking after the county's harbours. When I asked what was happening in terms of a health and safety audit of the harbour in Duncannon, I was told nothing has happened. It is as if it was never requested. I have met four times with the fishermen in Duncannon. They are very busy men whose schedule does not lend itself to having mass meetings of all the fishermen with officials, let alone Deputies. We compiled a list of things that are required to be done in the harbour on a health and safety basis. I have twice emailed the Minister and his Department detailing accidents that have involved near-death experiences for jet-skiers. Fortunately, the jet-skiers were saved in both incidents but there could easily have been two fatalities. Not a thing has been done and the issue has not been addressed in any manner. I have seen an email from the harbour master to a representative of the fishermen telling them that some moneys that were provided by the Department are at risk of being lost because the fishermen have not turned up to a meeting. I will take this matter up with the Minister after this debate. I do not want to have to raise issues like this on the floor of the Dáil but, unfortunately, it seems to be the only way we can get our public servants to do what is required of them by fishermen at a local level. What we are discussing here today, involving EU legislation, is probably beyond the powers of what is need in these matters. We need to be able to look after our fishers and compensate them where we can at local level.

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