Peter Kelly (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

I agree with much of what Deputy Bannon said, which was common sense. Deputy Bannon knows the areas involved, the rivers, lakes and the Royal Canal in Longford and Westmeath. Great work is being carried out on the Royal Canal. At the end of 2010 the Acting Chairman will be able to get into his little boat in Tallaght and can come down to Clondra, County Longford. At the moment we are spending €1 million on the harbour in Clondra. Great work is being done there and it will be completed by the end of 2010.

This Bill concerns the restructuring of the inland fisheries sector. The Bill will establish a new body, inland fisheries Ireland, that will subsume the existing central board and the seven regional fisheries boards set up in 1980. I am sorry to see the regional fisheries boards going because they did good work and were interested in and had a love of fishing. In the interests of fishing it is important that they are streamlined. It is Government policy to streamline boards and bring them into focus by the end of the year.

Under Government policy on the rationalisation of State agencies, the existing boards are to be replaced with a single national Inland fisheries authority. The Bill provides that inland fisheries Ireland will have a board of nine people. The chairperson and two others will be appointed on the Minister's nomination. Two board members will be appointed on the nomination of the Ministers for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. One will be a staff representative appointed following an election process. I welcome this, which is right and proper. Everyone should be involved in and have a say on this board. The remaining three members will be appointed having regard to the advice of the Joint Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. The Bill states that the appointees must have experience of or have shown capacity in one or more of the areas of agriculture, aquaculture, business and commercial affairs, commercial fishing, environmental biodiversity matters, fish processing, legal or regulatory affairs, matters pertaining to disability, repairing and ownership of fisheries, recreational fisheries, regional development and tourism. The inclusion of recreational fisheries, angling, commercial fishing, ownership of fisheries and tourism interests demonstrates that angling interests are not precluded from being appointed to the board of inland fisheries Ireland.

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