Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann approves the following order in draft:

Regional Fisheries Boards (Postponement of Elections) Order 2005,

copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 22 November 2005.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss the motion and, more generally, the Government's proposals for the restructuring of the inland fisheries sector. I gave an assurance at a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources last week, following a request by Fine Gael, the Labour Party and the Green Party, and the Taoiseach also gave this assurance on the Order of Business, that the new structure of the boards issue will be debated during the next session.

The management and development of the inland fisheries sector resides with the Central Fisheries Board and the seven regional fisheries boards. Elections to the regional boards are due to take place on 20 December 2005. However, I propose, subject to the approval of the Dáil and the Seanad, to make an order postponing elections for one year. If this is not done, the boards will fall.

In 2003, a consortium of expert consultants led by FGS Consulting was appointed to undertake a significant review of the inland fisheries sector. While a number of reviews and reports on the sector had been completed in the past, many of these focused on selected aspects or particular dimensions of the sector. It was, therefore, decided, in light of a number of new opportunities for adopting a new approach to the sector, including the implementation of the EU water framework, to undertake a review which would be holistic in nature and which would involve a root and branch examination of the sector.

The Department was firmly of the view that to secure the future of the very valuable and unique inland fisheries resource, it was critical to identify and address in a comprehensive manner the issues that have detracted from the optimum operation and development of the sector and threatened the long-term sustainability of the resource. During the consultation undertaken as part of the review process, the consultants found that there was a unanimous view among various interests that the current sectoral model was in need of a fundamental change.

On 15 November 2005, the FGS report on the review of inland fisheries was published and details were announced of Government policy adopted on the restructuring of the sector. There are differences between the report's recommendations and Government policy. The Government has decided that a fundamental restructuring of the sector will take place on an incremental basis, in two phases, between 2006 and 2008. This restructuring process is based on four key principles as follows: subject to appropriate regulation, local users and beneficiaries will be empowered to take responsibility for the management, promotion and development of the fisheries; the role of the Department will focus primarily on the protection and conservation of the inland fisheries resource; subject to appropriate regulation, regional management structures, representative of all users-beneficiaries stakeholders, will be created to manage access, development and maintenance of fisheries; and the establishment of a regulatory regime to oversee appropriate mechanisms governing the transfer and use of and access to fisheries, the licensing, including distribution of rights of fishery activities, in the commercial and recreational areas and the determination of fishing effort and total allowable catches etc. in regard to fish stocks.

The restructuring of the fisheries boards will involve the establishment of a single strengthened national inland fisheries authority, the establishment of strong regional advisory boards and the transfer to the Marine Institute of the current resources and responsibilities of the inland fisheries sector relating to research. The second phase of development will involve a move to a model to give effect to the principles underpinning the reform, whereby local users and beneficiaries of the inland fisheries sector will be empowered to take responsibility for the effective management of fisheries and the fisheries resource, subject to appropriate regulation. Phase 2 will be the subject of an extensive, open and inclusive consultation process designed to achieve optimum buy-in from all stakeholders.

A question was raised about licence increases. It was generally accepted by all parties that a fee increase of 2.1% should be sanctioned this year. That is reasonable as it is in line with the consumer price index. We can also avoid the big bang, which occurred a number of years ago. The increase was accepted by the joint committee without a division.

See this speech in context