A system of administrative penalties against fishermen who are found guilty of breaching European Union fishery protection laws will only be introduced in this State if the EU makes one compulsory, Minister Noel Dempsey has said.
The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources yesterday rejected yet another attempt by Fianna Fáil backbenchers, led by Cork South-West TD Denis O'Donovan, for a compromise on the controversial Sea Fisheries Bill.
A group of five Fianna Fáil TDs and two senators, led by Mr O'Donovan, met Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on Tuesday evening to outline their concerns on the legislation.
Yesterday, Mr O'Donovan and some Opposition deputies supported an amendment drafted by the fishing organisations which would create a list of penalties for minor offences that would be applied without going to the courts. Under the proposal, Mr Dempsey has been asked to publish an offences list by January 2007, to be covered by fixed penalties, following consultations with the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, which is to be set up under the Bill.
The Sea Fisheries Bill updates 1959 fishery protection laws, transfers responsibility for prosecutions from the Attorney General to the DPP and sets up a new independent Sea Fisheries Protection Authority.
During debate on the committee stage of the Bill yesterday, the Minister said the new legislation would ensure that minor infringements could be dealt with quickly and cheaply before the District Court rather than in the Circuit Court.
Green Party TD Eamon Ryan, who has supported Mr Dempsey's determination to impose strong sanctions, said fish landing figures were no longer believed by the Marine Institute or by the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES), which co-ordinates marine research in the Atlantic. "If we ignore that reality, we will be doing no favours to the industry. We may have to shut all fishing in the Irish Sea to protect the cod stocks that are there," he said.
