Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber and acknowledge he is bringing forward important legislation to, in many ways, bring clarity to this industry regarding how the penalty points will work. We have been talking about this for a significant period of time and there is a feeling out there that we need to put a fair and appropriate scheme in place. That is what fishermen and women are talking to me about continuously. We realise that there has to be legislation and regulation but it has to be fair. That is the ultimate point.

When you look at the legislation, it deals with the penalty points and how they can be distributed and the effect they will have on the master and the effect they will have on the master's licence going forward. Senator O'Donovan touched on the point that we must ensure this will apply across the board and everybody is going to be brought into the net, pardon the pun. That is a real issue. In the briefing notes I received regarding this point, one of the issues was how the foreign investors are going to be dealt with in the proposed penalty point regime. The Minister might clarify how that is going to tie in with the legislation and how foreign vessels will be policed in Irish waters. Will they have the same issues when the points are being sent to their jurisdictions? I do not think there is a European register of all masters and what points pertain to their licences at present, although I may be wrong on that. The Minister might confirm the position. We have no idea what penalty points have been applied to foreign vessels or what disciplinary action has been taken against them when they are fishing in European waters. If we had clarity and knew which vessels penalty points had been applied to, it might give some reassurance on the issue of what foreign vessels are getting away with. That is an issue on which we need some clarity.

The Minister might also clarify how this system will work with regard to UK vessels. There have been issues around Brexit, quotas and the transfer of fishing entitlements. It seems to me the UK is now somewhat outside the net. Where do UK trawlers come into the equation? How can the European Union have a system that will give confidence to the Irish fishing industry that the UK masters are not outside the proposed regulations at European level? That is a significant point. People in the industry want fair play and want to know everyone is playing by the same rules. If we had that assurance, it would go a long way towards ensuring that these issues are taken on board.

Let us be honest, there will be concerns, to say the least, about these proposals. We all realise there is regulation of everything one does in life but as long as that regulation is applicable to everyone, we can get by.