Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State mentioned metrics. We received a briefing note, I presume from the Department, which is welcome. One of the key metrics I would love to see, however, is the salmon run this year river by river. The Department or IFI could provide it to me separately and directly. It not does not use river by river in this assessment but that is one of the key metrics because that would measure what is happening in the Atlantic as well as in our rivers. Has the Minister of State heard any anecdotes or does he have any evidence on this from IFI? Perhaps it is still too early and the salmon are still running. Was the end of drift netting ten or 15 years ago has been successful? I am interested in the number of rivers going in and out of catch and release, or any catch, as an indicator. What is the status of our wild salmon population?