Results 8,381-8,400 of 9,368 for speaker:Verona Murphy

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Financial Statements of An Bord Pleanála (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: May I ask for one sentence of clarity from Mr. Walsh because I did not catch exactly what he said? The Minister is of the view that there are no minimum densities under SPPR 4. Is Mr. Walsh of the same view? It is a yes-no question.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Financial Statements of An Bord Pleanála (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: There are no minimum densities under SPPR 4.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: I am sitting in for Senator Boyhan. Earlier this year the Minister designated seven of our ports in which foreign trawlers will be able to land their catch post Brexit, particularly UK-registered and Northern Ireland-registered vessels. Is the delivery of penalty points to the skipper on a foreign-registered vessel a possibility under this legislation? If we stop a foreign truck driver,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: I am sorry to cut across the Minister here and I get his point, and strictly speaking then it is not a level playing field. We have foreign-registered fleets allowed to access our ports but we are only going to apply the rigours of the law to some of them and mostly to our own as we cannot apply it to the UK vessels or to Northern Ireland registered vessels.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: I accept that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: The measures for weighing include UK vessels, for example. Do they have to weigh their catch? I am talking about vessels landing in Irish ports.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: Do we have to weigh the catch that is landed here from Northern Ireland and UK vessels?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: On what basis, now that they are out of the quota, would we be weighing their catch?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: Has that been currently agreed in a regulation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: I am aware of all of that, but can the Minister return to me please on where things are at on a statutory and legal basis? I thank the Minister.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: The Minister has paraphrased the report from the EU somewhat in what he has quoted. The report actually states on page 44, at paragraph 5.1 of conclusions, on the third last paragraph: Due to a lack of resources dedicated to control Ireland only met one of eight benchmarks to fully inspect landings of bulk pelagic species in 2017 which undermines the ability to ensure an effective control...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: Who has the obligation to provide the weighing and control system and mechanism, the weighing machines etc.?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: With due respect to the Minister, it is the competent authority but this is something that relates to Ireland. This report did not go back to the SFPA, it came back to the Irish Government. Is it fair to say that it is actually up to the Minister to fund the SFPA and to put the control mechanism in place? The SFPA is already in receipt of millions of euros. In the past two years it has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: No. I ask the Minister to go back for a minute. Is the Minister saying that the SFPA is in charge of enforcement?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: To whom is the SFPA answerable?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: On that basis, was the report issued from Europe to the SFPA?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: However, it is not carrying out infringement proceedings against the SFPA, is it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: I do not want to go around in circles. The point I am trying to make here is the Minister has a report that he needs to deal with. It amounts to €40 million, as the Minister has said several times. We have an enforcement agency that is not answerable to him; it is answerable to a committee. What mechanism can the Minister put in place to ensure that the SFPA does not land us in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: Therefore, that was not sufficient-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Verona Murphy: I ask the Minister to clarify for me that the weighing of the fish is not the responsibility to provide the control mechanism, the weight mechanism, of the fisherman.