Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Senators who contributed to the debate. The fishing industry at times is not overly represented in either House and by bringing the Bill forward, we are trying to highlight an anomaly that is undermining the industry and that needs to be rectified and legally clarified. I fully acknowledge, as do my colleagues, that most sections in the 2006 legislation were accepted by the Labour Party and Fine Gael but they opposed the criminal provisions in it. Senator O'Donovan introduced many amendments to the legislation but, unfortunately, the then Minister with the full backing of his civil servants was unwilling to change the criminal sanctions. Politically, it was the wrong thing to do. I blamed the former Minister, Noel Dempsey, at the time and I said it publicly on many occasions. It was wrong then and it is wrong now but we are in opposition.

I was asked by Senator O'Donovan to examine this issue as my party's Seanad spokesperson on agriculture, food and the marine. This was my first opportunity to do so. We consulted industry stakeholders and we introduced the Bill. We have gone further than the Private Members' legislation introduced by Fine Gael in 2009 by providing for an appeals system. The Bill may not be perfect and there may be constitutional issues that need to be addressed. However, we do not have civil servants or the advice of the Attorney General to guide us when drafting legislation.

I acknowledge the Minister's constructive contribution and his acknowledgement that there is a need to do something about this. For example, the issue of a small fishing trawler facing the possibility of a criminal sanction for a minor offence while factory ships overfish needs to be addressed. During our discussions, we met young fishermen who have left the sector because of the threat of criminal sanctions under this legislation. We want to encourage young people into the industry and none of them should be faced with criminal sanction or be forced to leave the industry because of this.

I thank the Minister for his constructive response. I did not expect him to accept the Bill but I am grateful that at least he accepts the thrust of the legislation. I very much look forward to the Government Bill and we will scrutinise it carefully because that is our job. As the Minister mentioned, we did not highlight the specific measures to be covered under the penalty points system because that should be left to the discretion of the Minister of the day and his or her officials rather than a party in opposition. It would be wrong for us to do that and that is why we left it up to the Minister in the Bill. It is only right that he or she would draw up those tables. It is up to him or her or the Department to decide by way of regulation or otherwise the severity of sanctions based on a penalty points system. I look forward to this provision in the Government Bill.

Given the Minister's acceptance of where we are coming from, we will not divide the House on this Bill. In opposition, we have a responsibility to scrutinise but we also have an obligation to be responsible and to try to work with the Government and merge into one lane to benefit an industry. That is what we are trying to do. It is not right to punish us as individuals for what happened in 2006. I was not a Member of the House and Senator O'Donovan tried his best to amend the legislation at the time. Those who were responsible may not be in either House now. It would be grossly wrong of us not to do anything about it because of what we have said publicly and what was said in 2006. This is a genuine effort to try to do something about it. We will work with the Minister and if his Bill embraces the thrust of what we have proposed, he will have Fianna Fáil's support for it. I will withdraw my Bill based on the Minister's contribution.