Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 6:

In page 38, line 3, after "appealable" to insert the following: "save for an appeal to the High Court on a point of law".

This amendment was also discussed on Committee Stage. I refer again to the rights of the majority of fishermen who go about their daily business without breaking the law and who invest substantially in their fleets. Those fishermen have been facilitated by the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources with substantial grant aid and work long, hard hours to make repayments on substantial mortgages on their boats.

The debate has gone pear-shaped against a backdrop of extreme frustration in the fishing industry over the belief that it has become an industry of contradictions. On one hand substantial European grant money and national Exchequer funds have been invested in the fleet, in addition to fishermen's own investments. On the other hand quotas have been introduced and days at sea have been reduced, as has fishing effort. Some measures were necessary on grounds of sustainability but competing with other European countries for a level playing field in terms of days at sea and fishing effort causes frustration. There is not a level playing field where the rights of Irish fishermen are concerned.

Our coastline is a national resource which is both a heritage and an industry and fishermen are left frustrated with this legislation over the fact that investment handouts are being made but quotas reduced and tonnage taken away. In addition to that a small minority of fishermen have been breaking the law, as acknowledged by the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, and the vast majority of fishermen will suffer as a consequence. The Department is between a rock and a hard place because it must legislate against criminality.

I am calling for mechanisms to protect law-abiding fishermen, as I have consistently done throughout the debate. This amendment proposes the right of appeal to the High Court. The Minister said on Committee Stage that it was provided for in another section but any measure that offers protection for law-abiding fishermen should be adopted. Senator Kenneally, on first reading the amendments we tabled on Committee Stage, accused us of trying to bend the rules and looking for loopholes but that is not the case. As legislators, we are all between a rock and a hard place. Fianna Fáil backbenchers and we on this side all have problems with the legislation, even though it is an important Bill. We have all agonised over it, as it seems they have for some time in the Department. The Attorney General has even been involved. The Bill is not straightforward or easy. Neither is the matter as simple as my making outlandish statements about protecting innocent people at all costs, only to fail to introduce measures. They must be introduced but there must be balance and common sense.

The Minister's proposal yesterday was the light at the end of the tunnel, that is, to engage in a healthy ongoing consultation process with the fishermen's organisations. This matter does not relate only to sea fishermen. There is a plethora of issues with respect to fishing, such as angling tourists and drift-net fishermen who have specific interests, aquaculture and salmon fishermen. The only way forward is to roll out an exhaustive consultation process with the key people in the fishing industry. Everyone in the industry has an interest in it, whether it is someone with a B&B who looks out on Mulroy Bay and sees a salmon cage or someone else. The industry has a future and it is our responsibility as legislators to represent its members who wish to continue therein.