John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)

The motion is before the House as a result of the inland fisheries review, which is seriously misguided and needs to be rejected in full. The review proposes to centralise power and sell the State fisheries. The changes put forward in the review will not save money and will not make the system more effective. They will, instead, remove executive power from regional boards and will base power in one central unit, which runs totally contrary to decentralisation. The Minister of State also proposes to sell valuable fishery resources. This is a ridiculous suggestion and the review does not expand on how this would be done. It is unworkable and it is not in the best interest of the State.

Problems exist in the current inland fisheries model but the staff involved are doing an excellent job considering the lack of funding provided by the State. While the allocation increased this year, stacked up costs and the lack of funding to invest in restocking has negated its impact. The boards operate a highly efficient and effective service with a small budget compared to that of other State organisations.

While the Minister of State has said restructuring is required, he has not detailed why or in what areas, which is remiss of him. More uniformity is badly needed in the system. The regional boards have followed Government guidelines but the Minister of State and the Government have not given direction in many areas. The review also recommends that ownership of the fisheries be transferred from the State to local interests but no detail is given in this regard or direction offered as to how these management structures will be formed and how they will operate.

Angling tourism contributes significant revenue to the Exchequer. Our fisheries should never be ceded from State control. This notion is unworkable and it is not in the best interest of the State economically, nor is it in the interest of the long-term protection of fish stocks. Many other recommendations are grossly unsound. Under the proposed policy, the scientific unit of the Central Fisheries Board will be transferred to the Marine Institute. Given that the unit is widely acknowledged as a major success, why is the Minister of State moving it?

The review also creates enormous uncertainty for staff of the fisheries boards over the next three years. What will happen to the seven regional directors? The review does not specify whether there will be staff reductions or redundancies or what will happen to staff in autonomous positions.

The second phase of the policy will involve consultation and will take place from 2006 to 2008. It took two years to publish the Farrell Grant Sparks report and it has been on the Minister's desk since last February. It is now December, so why did it take so many months to publish it? During the duration of the second phase staff of fisheries boards will be left in limbo for at least another two years while the Minister consults on their future. That is not good enough.

It is ridiculous that it took so long to publicise this policy. The review was commissioned two years ago and has been finished since February. What was the hold-up in publishing it? The policy pulls power back into the middle. Responsibility will be taken out of the hands of the current governing regional boards and they will become regional advisory boards. Their power will be totally diminished and they will just be talking shops. That is a retrograde step. It means that those working on the ground in a given area will have to go to the central unit to make a decision. The nature of a board's work is such that decision-making needs to be carried out at local level, but that will not be the case. The proposals are illogical. They run contrary to decentralisation and do not bode well for our fisheries. They will have a significant impact in the north west and throughout the country.

The implementation of this policy needs to be blocked as it needs further discussion. I am disappointed at the limited consultation with the fisheries boards prior to publication of the report. There was obviously consultation with Farrell Grant Sparks on the report, but many of those involved in the fisheries boards did not know what was coming. It is a pity, when we have an autonomous effective system working in regional boards, that there was not more consultation and investment by the State. The fact that the policy is being deferred for another two years will mean there will be inaction. The Minister of State now says it will be two years before we will have an overall policy. He says he is bringing about uniformity by bringing in one central director, but that takes power from people who have delivered effectively.

I am disappointed there was not more consultation on this. The deferment of elections is only a stop-gap measure to keep people on board. The real power is being taken and there is no commitment to people who are working effectively. The rug is being pulled from under their feet.

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