Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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275. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to introduce legislation to amend the Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006 to allow for decriminalising of fishermen who inadvertently commit minor offences under the Act; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14096/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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In November 2014, the Department published as a public consultation document in the form of a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) a proposal for a Bill to amend the Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006 to provide for inter alia a system of fixed penalty notices (“on the spot” fines) for minor fisheries offences. This provided the possibility of creating a subset of minor offences which are legally suitable to be dealt with by way of fixed penalty notices.

In summary, the process suggested in the RIA involved giving a person who was alleged to have committed a minor offence an option to pay a fixed payment which would mean that a prosecution would not be taken in the Courts. If the payment was not received within 28 days, the prosecution would be initiated in the courts and on conviction it was expected that a higher fine would be applied.

A number of industry submissions received under the RIA on the implementation of fixed penalty notices raised concerns that these would be used in place of verbal or written warnings. Other comments raised concerns regarding potential inequalities in the application of the system between different Sea Fisheries Protection Authority Port Officers and Naval Service personnel. There were also comments regarding the constitutionality of applying sanctions in the absence of a Court decision and others seeking a fully administrative system.

In light of the comments submitted in respect of the above proposal on a fixed penalty system, it was decided not to proceed with the introduction such a system.