I propose to take Questions Nos. 914 and 915 together.
The monitoring and control of fishing vessels within Ireland's exclusive fisheries zone are matters for the Irish control authorities. Under the Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006, all operational matters of this nature are exclusively for the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority and the Naval Service. I am expressly precluded from getting involved in operational matters such as those referred to by the Deputy.
The SFPA has advised that no Irish national masters resident in Ireland have been assigned points by it under the administrative points system provided for under Council Regulation (EC) 1224/2009 following prosecution by other Member States.
The EU Commission is the competent authority to verify the control operations carried out by the competent authorities of Member States. In relation to the application of sanctioning systems across Member States, including the application of a points system for licence holders and masters, the EU Commission published a report in January 2021 that provided an in-depth analysis of the national systems sanctioning the infringements of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and, in particular, of the sanctions applied by Member States for infringements detected between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2019, including insofar as the EU points systems are concerned. This report is available here:
Study on the sanctioning systems of Member States for infringements to the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy - Publications Office of the EU (europa.eu)
In addition, a study prepared for the EU Parliament's PECH Committee was published in July 2020 entitled "Implementation of the current EU Fisheries control system by Member States (2014-2019)" which also considered inter alia the EU points systems. This study is available here:
Implementation of the current EU fisheries control system by Member States (2014-19) (europa.eu)
