Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Inland fisheries come under the remit of Mr. Griffin's Department also. I have experienced that.

We have three good rivers where I come from - the Suir, the Barrow and the Nore - but they are all closed to salmon fishing at the moment because of scientific evidence that there are not enough fish to sustain such activity. We have to get it up to a certain standard before we can go back fishing again. I have asked the Minister on several occasions about the buy-out scheme that was in place approximately ten years ago for various forms of fishing, including rod fishing and the traditional forms of fishing like snap-net, draft-net and drift-net fishing that are found in my locality. All of these fishermen have been off the river for the past three, four or five years. Some of them have been off the river for longer. Many people were able to make a partial living out of fishing when they were in their 30s and 40s. They made a lot of money out of salmon when they were plentiful. Small farmers and people living in labour were able to use this activity as a back-up. Could another buy-out scheme be considered? Many of these people are getting old now. They are gone beyond fishing for reasons of age. Could a new buy-out scheme be introduced to give some reward to people who were fishing all their lives, and getting some income from it, until the rivers were closed. Now they are getting no income from it. Could there be a buy-out scheme?