A group of 14 Irish MEPs from both sides of the Border have expressed "total incredulity" at some of the provisions of a new maritime jurisdiction Bill being introduced in the Dáil today.
Ulster Unionist Party MEP Jim Nicholson and Northern Sinn Féin MEP Bairbre de Brún have joined 12 southern European parliamentary colleagues in expressing serious concern at some of the content of the new Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Bill 2005.
New sanctions for fisheries offences proposed are "draconian", discriminate against Irish fishermen, and are "in total contradiction with the European ideal" and the "spirit" of the EU Common Fisheries Policy, the group states in a letter read yesterday to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.
A separate letter sent by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the committee's concerns are being examined and that the Attorney General "has been asked to review the legal position regarding an administrative penalty regime".
The MEPs argue that the European Commission prefers administrative, rather than criminal sanctions, and this system applies to almost 90 per cent of EU fishery breaches. Ireland and Britain still retain a criminal system, but Britain is examining the administrative option.
The MEPs - Fianna Fáil's Brian Crowley, Liam Aylward, Seán Ó Neachtain, Eoin Ryan; Fine Gael's Gay Mitchell, Simon Coveney, Avril Doyle, Mairead McGuinness and Jim Higgins; Sinn Féin's Bairbre de Brún and Mary Lou McDonald; Jim Nicholson of the UUP, and Independents Marian Harkin and Kathy Sinnott - state that sanctions and penalties must be "proportionate and fair".
The Taoiseach told the committee that the purpose of the Bill was to "strengthen and consolidate existing sea fisheries law" and to implement the reformed Common Fisheries Policy. Committee chairman Noel O'Flynn said: "The key word here is proportionality, and this Bill as it stands is not proportionate."
