Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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396. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide details on the body responsible for removing points for fishery offences in instances where the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority has been found by the courts to have incorrectly endorsed the points applied to a fisherman's licence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12175/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The State has an obligation under the Common Fisheries Policy Control Regulation EU No. 1224 of 2009 and implementing Rules EU No. 404 of 2011 to assign points to a licence holder of a fishing vessel where a serious infringement has been detected. Where the SFPA detects an infringement which it determines to be serious, it will notify the licence holder that it proposes to assign the appropriate number of points to the licence. The licence holder is also informed that he/she can appeal that proposal to assign points to the independent appeals officer. If there is no appeal to the Appeals Officer or if there is an appeal and it is unsuccessful, the points are assigned against the Sea Fishing Boat Licence. If the appeal is successful then the points are not assigned. The licence holder also has the option to avail of a statutory appeal to the High Court on a point of law. If the High Court were to make a determination that points should not have been applied to the licence, the SFPA will notify the Licensing Authority who will remove the points.