Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ring. Unfortunately, I will have to read him a prepared script. I know he has followed this issue hard and has stood up on this matter over a number of years. This is the second occasion a Minister of the Department has not been present, so I will bring it to the attention of the Minister on his behalf.

The matter of protected disclosures has been received in both the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and Inland Fisheries Ireland. It is important to state there are no investigations into any staff in IFI, including the CEO. However, the protected disclosures process itself may involve the appointment of investigators to carry out investigations on the disclosures. As the Deputy is aware, a number of protected disclosures have been made relating to Inland Fisheries Ireland to both the Department and to Inland Fisheries Ireland itself over the past 18 months or so. These disclosures are being examined in line with the protected disclosure policy and guidelines of the Department and the equivalent policy of Inland Fisheries Ireland, as appropriate.

Clearly, within both the Department and IFI, there are established processes in place to deal with and manage the consideration of confidential protected disclosures, and in the case of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications such disclosures are screened and managed by the protected disclosures unit in that Department. As many of these investigations are ongoing and confidential in nature, the Department is not in a position to comment on them except to state that it looks forward to their resolution in the near future. Any follow-up actions required on foot of the investigation of protected disclosures will be taken.

The Committee of Public Accounts was advised by Inland Fisheries Ireland on 6 July 2023 that alleged fraud was identified within Inland Fisheries Ireland in 2022 and this was subject to an investigation by An Garda Síochána. Inland Fisheries Ireland updated the Department that it understood this Garda investigation is ongoing and, in that context, it would not be appropriate to comment further on this particular matter.

On the broader matter of good governance within Inland Fisheries Ireland, the Minister, Deputy Ryan, requested the section 18 appointees, who stood in to perform the functions of the Inland Fisheries Ireland board from February 2023, to commission a review of the governance arrangements and operations of Inland Fisheries Ireland. EY was engaged to carry out this review, which included interviews with IFI staff, and the final report includes recommendations on how to address a number of important issues. This governance review was published in December 2023. The IFI chairman informed the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action last week that he is chairing a subgroup to address the EY governance report recommendations, and an implementation plan has been developed to give effect to these recommendations during the course of 2024.

As I said at the outset, I will bring the Deputy’s anger directly to the attention of the Minister.

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