Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I understand where the Senators are coming from in terms of having an appeals system in place, but I do not want to start to layer this excessively. If people are breaking the law, we do not want to have a system whereby it will be appealed and they go to court. If they feel strongly about it, they do not have to pay the fine and can go to court to make their case. However, the sum of €150 is the maximum. I did not want to make it more complicated. I was trying to make things simple. We can assume that most of the people involved are actually breaking the law. The authorised officers will not be stopping people to make false accusations against them. The purpose behind the section is to ensure there will be rules and regulations in place by which people will have to abide in order that we can all use the waterways which will be available for the enjoyment of both boat users and the public in general.