Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

The purpose of this amendment was unclear until the Senator spoke. The Senator's point is general rather than confined to this area of the register of fishing boats. I reiterate what I have said on meeting with those in the industry and discussing in detail its future. If there are anomalies, as the Senator refers to them, we can deal with them at the time. The amendment refers to objections and submissions, but these are not mentioned in the section. The registrar of fishing boats, with the assistance of local registrars, has the job of maintaining and updating, as necessary, the register of fishing boats without the need for ministerial intervention. That is a long stated position.

This Bill and the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2003, which is being amended here, sets out the role of the Minister, which is to set policy. That is important. The registrar general has to implement that policy. The amendment would involve confusion between the policy-making role and the executive role and could result in a Minister becoming involved in individual licensing cases. The purpose of the setting up of the register of fishing boats was to remove any political influence and interference in this process. It has worked well and the rows that occurred occasionally over the past 20 years about one area of the country being looked after better than another and licences being issued are largely in the past. Everybody in the industry believes that the licensing regime is based on set criteria and that is how it should remain. It is not desirable to change that and therefore I do not accept the amendment.