Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

I take the Senator's point, but we are providing here that the owner or master of the ship commits an offence if he fails to comply with the duties imposed on him, and then is liable for the €5,000 or the €100,000 fine. The duties consist of the duty to ensure that the ship complies with the nuclear carriage rules, the duty to have the ship surveyed as and when required, and the requirement not to go to sea with nuclear cargo without having the international certificate of fitness enforced. The ship may be regarded as unsafe under section 66, with which it is required to comply.

If something goes wrong, there is a host of other legislative provisions, not least environmental protection legislation, which can ensure that such events will never happen and which provide for imprisonment. The offences we are talking about here are consistent throughout the Bill, as are the fines. The size of the fine is a matter for the courts. The offences are related to a failure to comply with the duties I outlined, and the fines have to be proportionate, which is the advice we get regularly from the Office of the Attorney General. These fines are proportionate and they are consistent with other fines across the Bill.