Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would like to welcome the witnesses. Their report is comprehensive so I will not comment on each item. I met them in Roscommon and I thank them and their staff for the excellent work being carried out in my vicinity in the lake just beside our farm. The fishing stands are of excellent quality with beautiful presentation. They are certainly very attractive.

I will bring up the old issue of which I am now just a bit tired. I refer to the gross unfairness of charging for a permit to fish in a number of rivers and lakes, particularly in Roscommon, Longford and east Galway, including the River Suck, which is in the village of Castlecoote, where I live; its tributary, the Derryhippo river; Lough Linbaun; and Black's Lake. They require a permit and the charge is quite a disadvantage. It is €45 per year for an adult and €20 for a child. One day costs €20 for an adult. No permit is required in any other part of Ireland.

That the chief executive of IFI can stand over such discrimination against our area is outrageous. I am sick of listening to people such as the former Minister, Deputy Naughten, and the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, trying to explain this away over a long period. It is clear discrimination.

Fáilte Ireland is attracting people to the area under the Hidden Heartlands scheme. When a fisherman or fisherwoman asks if there are any fees or permits in the area, he or she is told there are and that they are being administered by bailiffs. They can drive less than 20 miles to the River Suck and fish there without any charge being imposed. That is wrong. It is affecting our area and destroying fishing tourism there. IFI can build all the fishing stands it likes, but very few people will use them as long as this situation continues. In Newport, juvenile anglers were given equipment to encourage them to fish. I do not know how long the agency will continue to stand over this. It is totally discriminatory. How many summonses have been issued by bailiffs to people fishing without permits in this area? Dr. Byrne will come back with the usual excuse about the ESB, its licences, etc., but the latter is a State body, as is IFI, and this matter is being kicked to touch all the time. I have heard Ministers do this regularly. I can only go so far. However, I ask the Chairman that we put it to Dr. Byrne and his colleague, the business development manager, that it is difficult to see how one can develop a business in an area where there are beautiful coarse fisheries to which people are not coming because they are afraid and do not want to pay extra charges.