Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senators for bringing forward their formal consideration of the Dáil amendments to this Bill. I have arranged for detailed explanatory notes on the amendments to be distributed and will be glad to answer any questions on them.

We debated the Bill here then referred it to the Dáil, after which it became necessary to amend it to overcome some difficulties that could otherwise have arisen. The core purpose of the Bill is to secure more reasonable use of inland and coastal waters and to safeguard human life and priceless natural and other heritage. If I did not introduce these amendments, however, all fishing vessels under 24 m would have required a certificate of compliance by 1 July under the Fisheries Act 2003. That would have caused serious problems for the industry and consequently I decided to introduce the amendments.

I would like to have addressed the issue of vessels over 24 m long but was not in a position to do so because that is covered by EU regulation and would not have been constitutionally possible. In addition, I received legal advice which overturned the general understanding of what constitutes the foreshore. We must address this matter immediately.

I propose to do so by confirming in legislation, provided this House passes it, that the general understanding that the foreshore runs to the limits of the territorial seas, namely, 12 nautical miles. The advice I received, however, is that the foreshore runs only to the low water mark, some yards from the coast. These amendments seek to confirm the understanding that has existed since 1933 when the foreshore legislation was introduced. In this Bill I wish to provide for validation of actions undertaken on the basis of that understanding. We have a responsibility to all those who have foreshore licences or leases and I am endeavouring to restore the status quo. This confirms people who hold licences or leases in their secure occupation of the areas concerned.

The Bill as initiated aimed at a more secure and reasonable use of inland waters. We have drafted these amendments which, with the co-operation of the Seanad, will resolve the difficulty about the certificates of compliance. I will introduce regulations to deal with these over the coming years.

Many people asked me what I was doing about jetskis. There is no question of my compromising on safety. Equally important is the question of extending the foreshore lease to the 12 nautical mile limit which was always understood to be the limit.

If Senators wish, I can go through the sections of the Bill. The earlier signature motion, which will come before the House later this afternoon, is necessary because of the urgency of having sections 53 and 55 and Part 6, inserted by the Dáil, made legally operational as quickly as possible ahead of the rest of the Bill. For convenience, I will deal with those provisions in dealing with what I describe as "Group 1". There are up to 77 amendments split into four groups. I have circulated all the information and will answer specific questions about any amendment or section.