The chief executive of Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation, Séan O’Donoghue has said that fishermen are not being afforded the same rights as other citizens under the new penalty points system introduced at the weekend.
Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, he said that in other countries where the system of penalty points was already in operation, there was the option to challenge the imposition of points “using lesser forms of proof.” The Taoiseach, who is the acting Minister for Fisheries, had “conveniently ignored” that the Supreme Court had struck down previous efforts to introduce such a system, he said.
In 2018 Fianna Fáil had been instrumental in having a similar statutory instrument annulled in the Dáil, he said.