Danny Healy-Rae backs motion to block fishermen penalty points
Danny Healy-Rae spoke in the Seanad on 29 Sep 2020 opposing a statutory instrument that would penalise fishermen with penalty points without court recourse. He said he would support Sinn Fein's motion and called the measure "absolutely ridiculous".
Motion and position
Healy-Rae declared he would support Sinn Fein's motion and criticised the statutory instrument as putting "the car before the horses." He described the proposal as unfair and undemocratic and said he could not understand why the Taoiseach had signed it.
Statutory instrument and penalties
He warned that fishermen could be given penalty points while at sea and would have no mechanism to have those points removed, even if they later appeared in court. He argued that people should have the chance to fight their case in a court of law rather than being penalised administratively.
Fishermen and local impact
He made the case for fishermen along the Kerry coast - naming Dingle, Carl Savine, Renard, Kinmear and Stiem - stressing the difficulty and isolation of their work and asserting Ireland's right to fish its resources fairly. He said Ireland does not have gold or oil or diamonds but has fish and should have fair laws applied to its fishing community.
Calls on ministers and questions of pressure
He addressed the minister directly, referenced Minister McConnell and recalled past opposition from Pat the Cope, Gallagher and meetings with Minister Creed alongside Deputy Collins and Martin Ferris. He asked who the government was beholden to and whether Europe had pressured the decision, and urged local representatives including Deputy Griffin and Minister Norma Foley to intervene before a vote.
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Very much, Seanad Comhairle. First of all, I want to thank Sinn Fein and I will be supporting their motion because there's no question about it. This is absolutely ridiculous. It's like putting the car before the hearts. Again, this is what, and you see, if the system was that people would be brought to court and that they would get penalty points or get fined or whatever in court, that would be fine. But this, this is not the way with this. The Taoiseach has signed the statutory instrument and if people are held up, if fishermen are held up in the high seas and get penalty points, whatever they do, whatever court they go to, they won't get the penalty points removed. And Minister McConnell, you're from Donegal and you understand it maybe better than any one of us. And you opposed this two or three years ago as part of the party. And Pat the Cope, Gallagher did vehemently oppose it. And we all supported him here when he came off the chair and made the case for the fishermen. I want to make the case for the fishermen along the coast of Kerry from Dingle, Carl Savine, Renard and Kinmear and Stiem who put their, they often, they have a very lonely, difficult job. And when they fight and overcome everything else, maybe the weather overcomes them. It's a, it, it's a serious hard job. And we don't have gold or, or, or oil or diamonds in this country, but we have fish and we should be entitled to fish it fairly and, and have fair laws applied. I'm, I'm saying to you, we're all Irishmen here. I can't understand why, why the last minister and the last government were trying to bring this in, myself and Deputy Collins and, and, and, and Martin Ferris. We met with Minister Creed and we laid out, we laid the line down to him that we weren't going to take what he was proposing. Why does, er, the Taoiseach come along and do this? Who are we beholding to? Is it Europe has pressurised this? Tell us what's going on, Minister, because we don't know. There should be no reason why Irishmen should be, get penalty points and be penalised without, er, say, having the, the, the chance to, to fight their case in the court of law. It's very, very wrong. And I'm calling Deputy Griffin, who's claiming everything except the weather these days and the minister, Norma Foley, in our county, to come out and do something about this and stop it before he goes to vote. Because I know if they'll go over there with he, they'll, they'll vote together and blow the fishermen out of it. I'm asking before it is too late to cop on and see the, see that what he is doing is wrong. It's unfair and it's, it's not democratic and it's not fair, Minister. Now we go to Deputy.
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