Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 9:

In page 15, line 35, after "relevant" to insert the following: "and make the results of all research publicly available". This amendment concerns research which is being done. It is an issue about which the Minister cares because he makes decisions, in this area at least, on the basis of the scientific information available to him on the management of fish stocks and so on. That is appropriate. I made the case on Committee Stage that if research is done on, for example, a stock take or the success or otherwise of a stock management programme or some form of stock promotion programme on rivers, lakes or whatever, it should be made available to the public. Amendment No. 10 tabled by the Minister, which attempts to deal with the issues I am raising, states:

"(c) IFI shall, unless it considers that it is not in the public interest to do so, make the results of any research carried out in accordance with subsection 7(a) available

I would like some examples from the Minister of cases in which it would not be in the public interest for IFI to publish the results of its research. I do not want information that requires us to shut down fisheries on rivers to be used on the one hand, while on the other we do not use information that suggests we should encourage more fishing on a river because of re-stocking success. In other words, I do not want any agendas, in terms of how we use the scientific research available to us. I want complete transparency. When research is done, it should become publically available as a matter of course. I do not see how that information could or would be abused by IFI or anybody else. Surely research done and paid for through the public purse should be made publically available to all interested parties. I am open to persuasion on this matter but I do not understand why the Minister is being cautious regarding whether IFI should have the powers to determine that it may not be in the public interest for it to release the results of research it has done on the waterways for which it is responsible.

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