Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I pay tribute to the finest bunch of patriots and decent, honourable men and women I have ever come across, namely, the men and women who work for Inland Fisheries Ireland. According to its last annual report, they carried out approximately 561 land-based patrols, more than 1,000 water-based patrols and 27,000 foot and vehicle patrols to protect one of the country's most important resources. I want to set out how valuable that resource is. In 2012, some 400,000 people participated in recreational fishing right around the country. It is a huge number. Their direct expenditure is worth more than €500 million and its impact on local economies, whether in Clonmel, Drogheda or west Kerry, means the creation of 11,000 jobs, particularly in rural, remote, beautiful and scenic areas that are far from towns and villages. I cannot accept what other Members have said here tonight. It has been an appalling insult to the finest people I have come across. They are dedicated public servants who are available day and night. They do not walk around with shiny shoes, briefcases and suits, like Deputies. Deputies are talking about people who dress in an olive green uniform like any other fishermen. While they have an identity badge, they do not throw their weight around.

What they do is protect the fisheries. The proof is in the facts, which are very clear. Listening to Deputy Mattie McGrath, one would think we are back in the days of the landlord class, with the ordinary Irish locals not being able to fish and not being supported in this activity. The number of prosecutions in the most recently published annual report was 73 in the entire year. The average number of convictions is 76, so clearly when Inland Fisheries Ireland goes to court, it has very good evidence. However, it rarely does go there. With regard to fixed charges, which are like penalty points, 289 fines were issued which did not involve attendance at court, which is a little over four a week. It is wrong to paint these men and women as people who are rampant and abusing power and privilege. They do quite the opposite. They protect one of the greatest resources we have.

I was privileged in my political life to be Minister of State with responsibility for Inland Fisheries Ireland and it was the greatest pleasure I had. Day after day and it provided information and brought me to meet people. Its staff interact absolutely with communities throughout the country. In the whole concept, from Ciaran Byrne down to the last recruit, and the lowest in the pecking order that other people speak about, I never met nicer or better people. Something I found very helpful and useful was the way they interacted with the huge number of inland fishermen and fisherwomen throughout the country. They are not enemies, they are friends of the fishermen and the fishermen are friends of them. When one goes to fishing competitions one sees they are friends. They eat together and drink together. It is not a hostile activity, rather it is protecting a scarce resource.

I look at the River Boyne. Some of us remember stories from national school about Fionn Mac Cumhaill and the bradán feasa. The fact is that the salmon and the trout, particularly the salmon, were sacred fish, as Denis Maher, who is listening, knows. Many is time we listened to that story about how important and sacred the salmon was to early pre-Christian Irish people. At the very dawn of history, they thought the salmon came from God because the only time they ever saw salmon was when they came upriver. They never saw them going down because they were much smaller and had a different form. Protecting salmon is hugely important resource.

I did a Google search for County Louth and I came across an account from 1764 about how important and productive the salmon fishery of the Boyne was. We can read about the 1830s, when there were so many salmon coming up the river Boyne in August that they were shoulder to shoulder the whole way across the river. This is a contemporary description from the time. We will not find them there today or tomorrow, and we probably will not find them in 20 years' time, because the salmon is a species threatened with extinction. Inland Fisheries Ireland is managing that resource in a very productive and constructive way. One can speak about its staff having PhDs. Many of them do have PhDs and they are real scientists. They are scientists with a conviction and passion which is acknowledged not just in Ireland, but throughout the world. Our scientists in this field stand head and shoulders above anybody else I have ever met.

Here is a message for the Minister of State. Perhaps Inland Fisheries Ireland needs to interact more with Members of the Oireachtas. Perhaps the Minister of State needs to invite Members in each county to meet Inland Fisheries Ireland staff and local fishermen's organisations. In the model I had in Louth, we met the Boyne fishermen and the Glyde and Dee fishermen. Inland Fisheries Ireland walked around and spoke to public representatives and fishermen to speak about the issues and they worked together to improve the resource. This is what is going on. It is an entirely different world from that which other people state exists, and this is hugely important.

One of the gaps is in recreational fishing, where we need more people to get involved. Inland fisheries and sea fisheries are hugely important and I will speak about inland fisheries. More than 400,000 people are involved in inland fisheries. Of those, 120,000 do not reside in the Twenty-six Counties. They come from Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom and everywhere. Why should they not do so when we have a wonderful resource which is being protected. However, it is under challenge. The conferences throughout the country attended by ordinary fishermen are a sharing of knowledge. There is a commitment that Inland Fisheries Ireland want people to fish in the rivers and catch and release. If there is a surfeit of salmon, they can be kept. The fact is if the figures are not there they cannot be opened and people cannot catch and keep. Inland Fisheries Ireland will do everything it can to have a catch and release system.

Never were the reports I read as Minister of State interfered with. Never would I have dared challenge the science or authenticity of an argument based on credible research and facts that are put in front of a Minister of State. I read every letter of objection and the Department would insist on it. They were put in a pile in front of me, often on a Thursday afternoon when people might want to get out of town. The Department and Inland Fisheries Ireland very much encourage meeting objectors. We had meetings in my office with people who objected. They would travel from whatever part of the country they came from and they were always welcome. The debate and the arguments would take place and, in 99.9% of cases, the scientific facts were as they were stated. If Inland Fisheries Ireland could have done something, it would. This is what it does. It is there to help and not to hinder. This is why I feel so strongly about it.

Another issue that concerned me when I was Minister of the State - perhaps the current Minister of State can provide more facts on this later - was involving more people in fishing. The lack of young people involved in fishing was a big issue, as was encouraging more young people to fish and encouraging competitions for young anglers. I remember going along the Boyne Canal when I was Minister of State when there was a special competition for young children from primary schools. The fishermen were there with their children. They had a competition and it was a lovely day out. It was very relaxing. Some of the young people were delighted to be able to catch a fish and release it. There were photographs and chat, and the memory of all of this is very important for families. We need to get more young people and women involved because there is a deficit of anglers.

An advantage I found was the offer of Inland Fisheries Ireland to go to local national schools and interact with the children in the class and speak to them about the resource, the life-cycle of fish such as salmon and anything the children wanted, because these guys at ground level know more than most people. They are extremely knowledgeable and committed people. Once or twice we went on field trips and they would help the children identify the micro-organisms or the fish they had caught in little streams. This is where it is at. It is not just about conservation, education and the future, it is about a greater appreciation of nature. It is about the building block of life of appreciating things greater than any individual, and about the infinite time the world has been in existence, probably 3 billion or 4 billion years. I think the Ceann Comhairle feels I have been speaking for half a billion years already.

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