Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like my colleagues, I hope this Bill will solve the issue and that we will not be back to deal with the matter again. We all know there is a considerable problem throughout the country with poaching. This is something that we should acknowledge. Communities have approached us. On numerous occasions in the past two or three years communities have approached me and brought me alongside the River Shannon. In one case they showed me ten pike laid out and being gutted. All the waste was being thrown back into the river. I was told that the fish would be exported and sold as a delicacy in a certain country. I have the proof, as do many people. We are as well to be upfront and honest about it: this is going on. I hope this can be addressed by the Inland Fisheries (Amendment) Bill 2016.

My colleagues on either side of me have spoken about the number of people involved in recreational fishing. The figure is extraordinary at in excess of 400,000. More extraordinary is that 250,000 of this number are our people. We are told the expenditure involved is €555 million. That is a lot of money and it has a serious income impact of €755 million. Recreational angling activity supports almost 10,000 jobs in the country. I have no doubt that this figure could be increased to 15,000. I think we need to get even more proactive.

In one way I was surprised that there was not more about this at the launch of the new rural programme. I accept that more money is being invested and a programme is in place. However, many communities are deprived - the Minister of State knows this as well - and this could be a lifeline for them. Many lakes are inaccessible. Many lakes could be restocked. This is the second part of that jigsaw given that we know we have the facilities and lakes and rivers.

My home town is Strokestown. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle knows this - he knows the county well. There are 65 lakes within a ten mile radius. It was the envy of much of the country for many years. Sadly, much of that has died away. One reason is that we have not put the facilities in place. We have not developed enough lakes. The River Shannon runs from one side of Roscommon to the other, as the Minister of State is well aware. We have major opportunities there. I am keen to see a greater hands-on and proactive approach. I want to see more involvement with communities. We need to consider all the other leisure activities that we can build around lakes and rivers, including picnic areas and walks. Much could be done from a tourism aspect to create considerable revenue for the State and create jobs in communities. That is something I would like to see developed further. I realise my time is up. Perhaps we will have a greater debate on this in time to come.

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