Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

In accordance with sections 19 and 22 of the Fisheries Act 1980, as amended by the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1999, each fisheries board is required, no later than a month after completion of audit, to present a copy of its accounts to the Minister.

As Minister, I am required, within three months of receiving the accounts of the fisheries boards, and following my bringing of the accounts to Government, to lay them, together with the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General, before each House of the Oireachtas.

My Department has, up to recently, received audited accounts in respect of 2007 from six of the eight fisheries boards and awaits audited accounts from the Central Fisheries Board and the South Western Regional Fisheries Boards. I understand reports on these accounts are still being finalised by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

I intend to bring the audited accounts of the six boards to Government shortly and lay them before both Houses of the Oireachtas thereafter.

The two outstanding audited sets of accounts will be brought to Government following completion of the Comptroller and Auditor General's audit and published thereafter in accordance with the statute.

The 2008 accounts will be prepared by the boards in accordance with the Fisheries Act 1980, as amended by the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1999, and I expect them to be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas in 2009.

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