Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 5, between lines 24 and 25, to insert the following:

"PART 2

Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission & Advisory Forum

4.—(1) The Act of 1952 is amended in the Third Schedule by the deletion of paragraph 6(1) and the insertion of the following:

"6. (1) (a) One senior and one junior member shall be elected by stakeholders in each jurisdiction for a period of five years.

(b) If a casual vacancy occurs among the members there shall be a by-election in the jurisdiction which elected the outgoing member to fill the vacancy.".".

I will make three brief points before coming to the amendments. This is the first occasion the House has had a chance to discuss fishing and coastal issues since the terrible tragedies of the Pere Charles and Honeydew II. At the outset, I express the condolences of the Labour Party to the families and communities involved in those great tragedies, and also sympathise with the crew of the Discovery from Castletownbere for the ordeal suffered more recently. The pressure on coastal communities is such that workers felt it necessary to go out in inclement January weather to try to make a living. That is a heavy responsibility for the Government.

Since we last met in a full session in this House the Government's new marine strategy report, Steering a New Course, has been produced. It was launched a couple of weeks ago by the Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Browne, and the Taoiseach, and I hope we get a chance to debate it fully before the session ends because there are some important issues in it that are related to the business before us today and to the difficult time being experienced by many coastal communities.

I welcomed this Bill on Second Stage. The Labour Party was very supportive of moving the legislation through this House in the speediest and easiest way possible and is committed to doing so again this evening.

The three amendments in my name, on behalf of the Labour Party, sum up one of the outstanding concerns we still have and that is why I resubmitted the amendments. Amendment No. 1 seeks to ensure that the Foyle Fisheries Act 1952 is amended so that there will be an election to decide the board of stakeholders for a period of five years. Amendment No. 2 seeks to amend the Fourth Schedule of the Foyle Fisheries Act 1952, suggesting the advisory council should consist of members elected directly by stakeholders in the Foyle fisheries. Amendment No. 3 states that in the Fourth Schedule of the Foyle Fisheries Act 1952 the members should consult, liaise and advise directly the members of the advisory forum.

We met the Foyle fishermen while carrying out the preparatory work for this Bill and these amendments arose from the fact that there was a strong feeling among the stakeholders on Lough Foyle, in Greencastle and other ports in Inishowen that there had not been sufficient consultation regarding the Bill. The key stakeholders, including, we heard, people employing more than 20 members of staff and investing perhaps €2 million, were not adequately consulted and there was a feeling that the Loughs Agency implementation plan, based on a Centre for Marine Resources and Mariculture, CMAR, study, was considered flawed as many of the stakeholders refused to participate in that survey. Others who were surveyed were not involved in shellfish activities. Issues were also raised relating to security of tenure for existing operators on Lough Foyle and the fact that people who had spent years and millions of euro developing the mussel fishery or pursuing the wild oyster fishery were let down and ignored by the legislation.

There was a general feeling that the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission and advisory forum should be made more democratic and transparent. In particular it was felt the commission should have elections in a more transparent and democratic way. The Minister told me, in response on Committee Stage, that the Foyle Fisheries Act 1952 had been superseded, with regard to the Third and Fourth Schedules, by the Belfast Agreement of 1998. This matter affects the jurisdictions of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission was the superseding body. As a result the advisory forum was set up with 48 members but there was a feeling among stakeholders who came to see me that some members represented very few stakeholders and, effectively, represented only themselves.

The Minister gave an assurance, which I would like him to address this evening, that the North-South Ministerial Council, which referred to this project under the St. Andrews Agreement, would give some degree of accountability and democratic control of the commission and advisory forum to us. There is a Deputy here tonight from the area in question.

Stakeholders told us that the commission, on the Northern side, was governed by the d'Hondt system relating to the agreement in Northern Ireland. This seemed to be a very democratic system whereby all parties and all stakeholders would be represented. I seek assurances from the Minister that there will be an ongoing, high level of consultation in this area. In particular the Minister might comment on the proposal the Taoiseach made last week regarding the new Dáil committee for North-South business and the North-South Ministerial Council. When will it be up and running? What activities will it engage in? Will this legislation and the similar legislation we will cover this time next week on the all-island electricity Bill come within its remit?

I seek to reflect the views of stakeholders as they were put to me, the fact that the mussel fishery, the oyster fishery and aquaculture are long established in the lough and that people felt, at the very least, they should have received the same rights and guarantees under this legislation as those applied in Wexford harbour. I have referred to this in a forthcoming amendment. From our point of view, in the current jurisdiction on the Donegal side of Lough Foyle, the key issues we wish to see addressed regarding the fishermen should be reflected in this Bill. In a previous discussion on amendment No. 1 the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey, informed us of this. I think that amendments Nos. 2 and 3 are valid if we are to have fully democratic control of the commission and the Loughs Agency.

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