54.—Section 4 of the Fishery Harbour Centres Act 1968 is amended—

(a) by substituting for paragraph (a) of subsection (6) the following:

“(a) A person who contravenes an order or bye-law under this section is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €5,000.”,

and

(b) by inserting after subsection (9) the following:

“(10) (a) Where an officer of the Minister authorised for the purposes of this subsection has reasonable grounds for believing that a person is committing or has committed an offence under subsection (6)(a) of this section he or she may serve the person with a notice, in the form specified by the Minister in bye-laws under this section, stating that—

(i) the person is alleged to have committed the offence, and

(ii) the person may during the period of 21 days beginning on the date of the notice make to the Minister at the address specified in the notice a payment of such amount specified in bye-laws under this section, accompanied by the notice, and

(iii) a prosecution in respect of the alleged offence will not be instituted during the period specified in the notice and, if the payment specified in the notice is made during that period, no prosecution in respect of the alleged offence will be instituted.

(b) Where notice is given under paragraph (a) of this subsection—

(i) a person to whom the notice applies may, during the period specified in the notice, make to the Minister at the address specified in the notice the payment specified in the notice accompanied by the notice,

(ii) the Minister may receive the payment, issue a receipt for it and retain the money paid, and any payment received shall not be recoverable in any circumstances by the person who made it,

(iii) a prosecution in respect of the alleged offence shall not be instituted in the period specified in the notice, and if the payment specified is made during that period, no prosecution in respect of the alleged offence shall be instituted.

(c) In a prosecution for an offence under this subsection the onus of proving that a payment pursuant to a notice under this subsection has been made lies on the defendant.

(d) Any payment received by the Minister under this subsection shall be paid into the Fishery Harbour Centres Fund.”.