New legislation has been published by the Minister for the Marine, Mr Fahey, which aims to tackle piracy outside the 12mile limit, including conflicts among fishing vessels at sea.
The legislation allows for unlimited fines and/or jail terms of up to 20 years on indictment, and fines of €3,000 (£2,363) or six months' imprisonment on summary conviction.
Currently, the Naval Service and other agencies can take action only inside the 12-mile limit, and can only take statements of alleged incidents which occur beyond 12 miles and within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
Piracy is defined under the Bill and includes deliberate disablement of a ship, intentional ramming, deliberate towing away of fishing gear, or the use of firearms or other weapons.
The Naval Service and other enforcement agencies will be able to stop and board ships, conduct searches, take statements, seize and retain evidence and even seize the ship. if any person on board is suspected of a piracy offence.
Significantly, individuals may also be arrested without warrant, and officials may use "reasonable force" to carry out their duties.
Patrol ships may still have difficulty obtaining evidence where an incident has occurred some hours before in a 132,000 square-mile sea area, but video footage may be taken into account in subsequent investigations.
Entitled the Law of the Sea (Repression of Piracy) Bill, 2001, the legislation gives effect to provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea signed in December 1982.
Fishing industry organisations have lobbied for the legislation in response to the number of alleged incidents of harassment off the south-west coast between Irish and other EU vessels in the past decade. This has ranged from deliberate destruction of fishing gear to rammings.
The Naval Service's latest new patrol ship, the Niamh, is due to arrive at Cork Harbour today after completing its sea trials in Britain. The ship is the second in its class to be built for the Naval Service in Appledore Shipyard, north Devon, and is due to be commissioned by the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, in Cork city in early September.
