Brendan Kenneally (Fianna Fail)

I would welcome the Minister's clarification on this, and I sympathise with Senator McHugh's proposal. As we well know with our court system, God knows how long it can take for an appeal to be heard. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that a fisherman would win the appeal, but would have been without the boat for a period of three, six or 12 months while waiting for the appeal. This may arise even if the fisherman was not guilty of an offence in the first place. The legislation may be unfair to the fisherman in this case, and the Minister might clarify this.