Results 24,561-24,580 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I should declare an interest by mentioning that I was the Minister who introduced the legislation in the first place. IFI is a critical institution for protecting and benefiting the environment and anglers have a real interest in protecting the environment. I disagree with the characterisation that there is, on the one hand, an interest in protecting the environment and, on the other hand,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I agree that we need to have what might be called an ecosystem approach. If one looks at any one element of the environment rather than the whole system, one will not get the best and optimal protection of the environment. This legislation is unusual compared with other legislation in that it gives the Oireachtas joint committee the power to appoint board members. Part of the reason for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I have no sense of that, particularly in the last year and a half. We need to scale up IFI, which needs to be bigger. Being larger, it can and should have a role in habitat protection. We are about to initiate a significant phase 2 of a land use review and IFI has a critical role in that. A review of land use has to look at what is happening in our rivers and apply a river basin...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: We could broaden it out. I have often considered that issue. Could the National Parks and Wildlife Service be made separate and could Inland Fisheries Ireland be integrated in some way, with reconstituted forms of the various arms of the State's environmental protection? That could be debated but I do not think it is the core of the problem here. It is true what the Deputy said about...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I met Mr. Barry and Mr. Neely yesterday in advance of this meeting and I was encouraged because they have hit the ground running. I have had a meeting of the board in situand a meeting with management, and there will be a further meeting later this week. In answering my questions, Mr. Barry and Mr. Neely said they had a sense that IFI was a professional functioning organisation, and while...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: The previous board was not, as I said, quorate and there was not a functional relationship between management and the remaining board members. That led to an environment where the board could not carry out its statutory functions effectively.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I apologise but I do not understand the question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I appointed a senior counsel to carry out a major investigation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: There is a system for managing protected disclosures and it is important-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: As I said, in my understanding, a lot of the concerns and other accusations were submitted as protected disclosures and they had to be managed in a way that was appropriate and fair to all sides.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: No. I gave every opportunity, with the appointment of that senior counsel, for a review to be conducted, with the recommendations of that review taken with a view to examining whether the board could work its way through the difficulties. Earlier this year, however, it became abundantly clear that was not possible and that, in those circumstances, the provision of section 18 of the Act...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: The board had seen five resignations, including two chairpersons. To return to what Senator Kyne said, that is not usual or normal. On top of the media commentary on the issue, none of this is normal.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I have not said one word in that vein to one person about any member of the board, whether outgoing or previous to that. There has been enough of that and it is better to take out some of that political commentary and ensure we return the institution to functioning effectively. I have no intention of in any way demeaning them or depicting them in a bad light.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: There are no consequences, in my mind, for any member of the board. My officials are rightly indicating to me that any member could apply for reappointment to the board.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: My response is similar to what I said to Deputy Whitmore. It is when the fish are floating you often know you have a problem. It is hard to gauge for an average person. I keep coming back to the point that the angling community are probably some of the most passionate people about protecting our rivers and systems. It is a large community of people monitoring who we can turn to for help....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: At that stage, I felt the best approach was to appoint a senior counsel to try to assess what could be done and to follow that approach. He wrote a very good report, in my opinion, which set out a path. Having lost a further three members and a chair, I thought it was appropriate to speak to the outgoing chair, having tried every other mechanism.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I would not rule it out. I am not going out of my way to. My focus is on having the new board appointed and getting the governance review done. I am not committing to meeting anyone. I do not want to set myself as the judge and jury and go back to speak to every person involved in this whole process. That is a matter for others.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I am not impugning anyone in that regard. I may have said earlier in my contribution that there were relationships not just within the board but between the board and management, clearly. There was a lot of public and political commentary. It is wider in terms of people with different views on what was happening. Me adding to that by weighing in and trying to act as an arbiter would not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Inland Fisheries Ireland: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (7 Mar 2023)

Eamon Ryan: Three further resignations took place and the assessment of the outgoing chair was that they had not been able to deliver what Mr. Conleth Bradley's report suggested.