The Agriculture and Marine Minister has been told there is blind anger and fury over how fishermen are treated.
Speaking in the Dail last evening on the Sea Fisheries Amendment Bill, Donegal Deputy Padraig MacLochlainn relayed his concern that fishermen are being criminalised by current legislation surrounding the penalty points system.
Deputy MacLochlainn who is Sinn Fein’s Spokesperson on Fisheries and the Marine believes it is second class citizenship for those in the sector and an attack on their rights to be considered innocent until proven guilty.
He told Minister Charlie McConalogue in the Dail that there needs to be an urgent change in the legislation:
