Kenny launches new Fisheries Bill to amend out of step Irish law

The Fine Gael Leader, Enda Kenny TD, launched the party’s new Fisheries Bill which is designed to introduce an Irish system of administrative sanctions so that fishermen do not face exclusively criminal sanctions for sea fisheries offences.

Speaking from the launch of the Bill in Castletownbere in West Cork, Deputy Kenny said:

“Current legislation governing fisheries offences in Ireland imposes extremely serious penalties even for minor breaches. Fine Gael recognises that serious quota breaches and environmental offences should attract the full rigour of fisheries enforcement. However, Ireland is out of step with all the other maritime jurisdictions in Europe because we rely exclusively on criminal sanctions for sea fisheries offences. Fine Gael’s Bill, which has been drafted by Cork South West Deputy Jim O’Keeffe, will correct this anomaly and redress the imbalance in the way we deal with breaches of seafisheries law.”

The author of the Bill, Deputy Jim O’Keeffe said:

“I believe this Bill deals with a significant flaw in the Irish approach.Serious breaches will continue to be dealt with by serious penalties. However, it will provide a mechanism for keeping minor or technical infractions out of the courts. For constitutional reasons Ireland cannot adopt the continental system of administrative sanctions directly so my Bill creates a process to establish a fixed penalty approach for certain offences. This has a number of advantages including the promotion of a greater culture of compliance, reduced administrative costs as offences are dealt with by administrative measures rather than through the courts and the faster conclusion of cases.”

Fine Gael Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Spokesperson, Deputy Michael Creed, welcome the Bill saying:

“The Government should support the Fine Gael Bill which is a sensible way of putting in place an effective system of sanctions for fisheries offences.
Fishermen have been distressed at the imposition of criminal for even minor breaches of technical regulations.
The Fine Gael Bill will mean a criminal record and the associated stigma can be avoided by accepting a fixed penalty notice in place of court proceedings. I believe there should be no objection to our Bill which only places Ireland on a level playing pitch with the rest of Europe by no longer retaining an exclusive reliance on criminal sanctions for fisheries offences.”