Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept that Senators from all sides of the House try to do their best for fishermen. However, I cannot accept the fact that we have Fianna Fáil Members here trying to change a law which their party introduced when in government. They criminalised fishermen themselves; they have recognised that fact and now that they are in opposition, they want to change their own legislation. I respect them for doing that. They have admitted that their own Minister made a mistake but they had to vote with their own Minister, as we do with ours. Indeed, we have had to support some difficult measures in recent years. The fact remains that Fianna Fáil is the party that criminalised fishermen for the offences that are mentioned in this Bill. Senators Ó Domhnaill and O'Donovan have said that they have visited the fishing communities all over the country and I believe that is why this Bill has been put forward. Those communities are livid because of the 2006 Act.

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this Bill, coming as I do from the south east of Ireland, where we have quite a sizeable fishing industry. I am aware of the significance of the fishery regulations and the impact they can have on the fishing communities all over the country. As Senator Ó Domhnaill rightly said, when in opposition in 2010, Fine Gael brought forward a Bill which proposed the introduction of administrative sanctions for minor fisheries offences. This Bill was rejected by the then Government, led by Fianna Fáil, on the grounds that it was unconstitutional and undesirable. That Bill has been referred to today as if it represented manna from Heaven. However, the programme for Government contains a commitment that this Government will "replace the criminal sanctions system for minor fisheries offences with an administrative sanction system to bring Ireland in line with other European jurisdictions". As I understand it, the Minister is preparing a Bill to amend the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act of 2006.

This will address the programme for Government commitment. Government Senators oppose the Bill on the basis that it contains provisions which are considered flawed. The Bill provides any offence may be subject to a fix-penalty notice with a fine set at €400 for the first offence and €800 for the second. The Bill the Minister intends to bring forward will contain an amendment for the system of fixed-penalty notices for minor fishery offences. It will also propose that the on-the-spot fines will be used in place of the current criminal process for fisheries offences, both small and large, and sets out fines at low levels. This Private Members’ Bill is not confined to the minor offences nor does it distinguish between offences that ought to be tried and those which might be dealt with summarily. The fixed penalties set out in the Bill do not meet the criteria set out by the EU as they are disproportionate and dissuasive. There is a real danger that this Bill could create a lax fisheries control regime for both Irish and foreign vessels operating in our waters. This would be damaging to our fishing industry which is entirely dependent on sustainably managed fish stocks. The Bill would also infringe the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy and see the European Commission re-open an infringement case against the State as it did in 2003 and 2005 to address control failures.

The Minister is amenable to introducing his own legislation to address this Private Members’ Bill’s objective. Being a politician, however, I cannot resist pointing out that Fianna Fáil is trying to rectify legislation that it introduced which criminalised fishermen.