Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I appreciate it. I fully recognise the Government's response to this. To the fair to them, the Ministers of State, Deputies Dooley and O'Sullivan, have taken calls from me and have recognised the fact that a significant ecological disaster that has affected many species and wildlife has taken place on the River Blackwater. My issue lies solely with the State agencies involved, particularly IFI. Trying to get those agencies on the phone is next to impossible. Trying to get a response from them as to the reassurances I possibly bring back to local anglers, other regular users of the river and members of the community is nearly impossible.

No definite cause for the fish kill has been identified in any of the test results. The IFI website refers those results indicating that some sort of chemical agent was the cause of the issue. I call on the IFI to give some sort of reassurance and a definite answer in plain English to ordinary members of the public. It is very difficult to understand the results that are being presented to people. That has to be recognised.

The fact that it is going to take upwards of ten or 12 years for the river to be fully restocked in terms of trout and perhaps even longer for salmon is quite difficult to understand. Some reassurance has to be given to local anglers. In particular, I want to mention Mr. Conor Arnold from the Killavullen Angling Club who owns an angling company that operates on the river. What happened has had a detrimental impact on his business. I want to be in a position to reassure the public. To be fair, the Government's response has been quite good, but I have serious difficulty with the State agencies and their lack of accountability.

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