Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I understand the Minister of State must await Cabinet approval before publishing the report and answering in respect of the financial implications involved or hardship schemes that may be put in place. I imagine the report cannot but be published in the next month, because as the Minister of State said, there is a timeline in terms of the upcoming season. This report will inevitably have to come out within a matter of weeks and the Government will have to make a decision on it within a matter of weeks. The Minister of State reiterated several times that the Government is standing by the advice of the standing scientific committee of the National Salmon Commission, which is welcome. That committee's advice could not be clearer, namely, that we need to put an end to the mixed stock fishery and catching of wild salmon. There will have to be an end to that mixed stock fishery. The only question for the Cabinet to decide is what will be the consequential management in terms of hardship, the defining of mixed stock and so on. Ultimately, the Government has agreed that the scientific advice is correct and we should move towards ending that mixed stock fishery.

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