Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

We have spent more than two hours going back over a great scandal in our political and administrative history in the form of charges for patients in nursing homes. Is it possible that the Minister is presiding over another desperate scandal given that we have become an international pariah throughout Europe? Ireland is the only country that still allows drift netting. Only 14% of our major rivers, such as the Nore, Suir, Boyne and Shannon, have an adequate salmon ecosystem. Given that is the case, it is time the Minister said he was strongly persuaded of the case to move to the national conservation limits sooner rather than later. The Minister may not be in Government after 2007. The results of the by-elections this week might impinge slightly on that. Is it fair to say, therefore, that the Minister, his predecessor, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, the Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Gallagher, and the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food, Deputy Browne, have failed to address the significant issue of wild salmon stocks and prevent a total disaster?

In his reply the Minister did not explain adequately why he has not accepted the advice of the standing scientific committee which was based on the precautionary principle in regard to the future of salmon stocks. Would it not be appropriate to embark on that in 2005? Should the Minister not still take the initiative in 2005 to protect salmon stocks for our anglers and major rivers? Will the Minister look again at the possibility of a buy-out of the drift net fishermen in the lifetime of this Administration? We heard on the previous day that parliamentary questions to his Department were taken that the Minister had set his face against such a buy-out. Reference was made to Mr. Joey Murrin. Why has the Minister opposed local buy-outs, such as on Erne river? Is it not time to address this issue in a significant way and estimate the costs that would ensue, given the experience of Scotland, Iceland and many other countries with important salmon fisheries? Ireland is the most important country in this area of the environment. The Minister has a key responsibility to ensure that in ten years' time we will not ask what on earth did the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey, do and why did he not listen to the scientific advice of the day.

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