Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

I wish to reiterate what Senator Kenneally said in this regard. In 2002 when the major review of sea-fisheries and sea-fisheries control took place, the Commission decided to move more seriously against countries which were not adequately protecting and applying the Common Fisheries Policy. An area on which it is focusing in the context of Ireland and other countries is the various links of the chain from the trawler to the shop where the fish is sold. The purpose of this section is to put that into law so that, as Senator Kenneally mentioned, people cannot land fish in the dead of night in ports in which they do not have permission to land it. I understand up to 15 lorries can arrive at a port, unload fish and disperse quickly to various locations. In addition, there is a fairly well-known practice where the drivers of those lorries travel certain distances and then, usually in the dead of night, other drivers take control of the lorries so that if they are stopped at a later stage by the authorities, they are able to say they only picked up the lorry at a certain point and do not know from where the load came. They have a reasonably legitimate way of getting out of being fined or otherwise. This provision is to stop that type of activity and the sellers of fish from selling fish illegally caught. From now on, if one handles, weighs, sells or transports fish, one must have the documents to prove they were legally caught and that one is not doing anything illegal.

On the amendment, section 14(4)(b) states: "In any proceedings for an offence under the section it shall be for the accused to show (as the case may be)". The Bill provides for the point about which Senator McHugh is worried, namely, that in the circumstances "it was not possible to know or not reasonable to ascertain that a regulation was being contravened". If a transporter, seller of fish or otherwise does a deal with somebody and papers are presented which look legal, he or she will be in a position to go to court, produce the documents, etc., and make his or her case before the court. An individual will have the opportunity to do that under the Bill. The amendment is unnecessary because what the Senator is trying to achieve is already covered by section 14(4)(b).