Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 11, line 27, after "fish" to insert the following:

", but for the avoidance of doubt does not include a seafishing boat".

I welcome the Minister and his official back to the House. It was timely and fortunate that I had the pleasure of meeting members of the fishing fraternity — the drift net and draft net fishermen — outside the gates following yesterday's Committee Stage debate. I am not sure the Minister met the group but I am sure Senator Kenneally went outside to meet a few of his constituents. The fishermen who protested outside the House yesterday were drawn from communities around the coast, from the southernmost part of County Cork up to Gola, Tory and Inch islands in County Donegal.

The fishermen I spoke to were aware that the legislation had been before the Seanad yesterday. They appealed for more common sense to prevail in the Government's approach to the fishing industry and welcomed the Minister's statement in the House that he intended, once the legislation was enacted, to broaden the debate on the marine industry and touch base with fishing organisations on how to move it forward. While exhaustive consultation is sometimes an evil, it is clearly vital in the case of the fishing industry if we are to determine how the sector is to be advanced.

The amendment seeks to avoid ambiguity by stipulating definitively that seafishing boats are not covered by the definition of the word "equipment".