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Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Dr. Cathal Gallagher (Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Inland Fisheries Ireland)called and examined.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: ...Murphy. All in attendance are very welcome. I remind everyone to ensure their mobile phones are on silent mode or switched off. I will explain some limitations to parliamentary privilege and the practice of the Houses as regards references the witnesses may make to other persons in their evidence. The evidence of witnesses physically present or who give evidence from within the...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Mr. Seamus McCarthy: Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach. Inland Fisheries Ireland was established in 2010, amalgamating the previous regional fisheries boards with the Central Fisheries Board. Its remit is to protect, manage and conserve Ireland’s inland fisheries and sea-angling resources. IFI’s income in 2022 amounted to €40.4 million. This was up from...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Brian Stanley: I thank the Comptroller and Auditor General and I invite now Dr. Gallagher to speak, as he has indicated, and he has five minutes. Dr. Gallagher has taken over effectively as the CEO and I wish him well in that role.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Dr. Cathal Gallagher: Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, and to the committee for the opportunity to appear before it today, and discuss the financial statements for 2022. We are pleased to be here to engage with the committee on our work, our challenges, and our new opportunities as we at Inland Fisheries Ireland look to a future with confidence. I am the deputy CEO at IFI and I am...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

...that we had withdrawn will be the more serious ones. There was a specific case in Dublin I will give the details for. There was a fish kill on the River Rye. A number of fish had been killed and a lot of our stakeholders in the area had significant concerns over the fact that the case was withdrawn.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Imelda Munster: I was going to ask about the error and whether it was in fact an error. Mr. Fox said the relevant person did not have the authority to process the prosecutions. How did that come about?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Mr. Barry Fox: The issue was the power to delegate and the delegation of the authority from the board to the executive. That is where the issue has occurred.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Imelda Munster: We have yet to find out who gave that instruction and who the person on the board is who gave the instruction. What was the role of the staff? What was their position in the IFI? These are the staff who, it now transpires, did not have the authority to initiate these prosecutions. Were they clerical staff? It is a fairly substantial job of work to hand over to somebody. What was the...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Mr. Barry Fox: I can expand on the approvals process for prosecutions. The way it works in IFI is that we have authorised officers who are the fisheries protection officers in the field. They identify a breach in legislation and write their statements. They recommend a prosecution to their line manager, who is normally an assistant inspector or inspector. In the case of an environmental...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Mr. Barry Fox: It is historical. It was a number of cases that were in for hearing between March and June 2023.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Imelda Munster: That does not answer the question as to who initiated it and who was given the task of doing it, which is what created this whole fiasco.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Imelda Munster: I want to touch on the performance metrics. With regard to testing Irish watercourses for the presence of fish and suitability, does IFI test all Irish watercourses? Are there areas it does not test?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Dr. Cathal Gallagher: No, it depends on which particular programme we are looking at. We work directly on the water framework directive and look at the fish populations that contribute to the status of water bodies. In this case, we have a rota of three years over which we test various water bodies. This is defined by the EPA to a large degree. For example, in 2022 we sampled 24 lakes,...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Dr. Cathal Gallagher: I do not have the exact figure because it changes but I can certainly look at it and come back. Other water sampling goes on. There is a broad range of different types of sampling. One of the latest programmes we have looks at the environmental parameters for climate change. We have a number of index catchments that look at various measures, including temperature...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Dr. Cathal Gallagher: Over recent years, we have been developing an open data portal, which is available on our website. People can go into a live map and click on their local area. They can click on a dot on the map and pull up information on the fish populations there. I mentioned the water framework directive. We have made available, through our website, a water framework directive...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Imelda Munster: Would the Department be satisfied, given the levels of funding, that all of the information is available for people? Is it satisfied in relation to patrolling measures, water quality, water testing and all of those sorts of issues? Is the Department satisfied?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Mr. Philip Nugent: Yes, we are satisfied with the level of data that is available at the moment and with the work that IFI has done in recent years, which Dr. Gallagher has just outlined. There is always room for improvement, particularly in an area where an environmental body is working because it is difficult to put a monetary value on the work they do. We are trying to ensure that we...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Imelda Munster: Is Mr. Nugent saying categorically that there is a measure available to the public in relation to patrolling and water quality? Can he categorically state that is available?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Imelda Munster: I asked about patrolling and water quality.