Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Haughey. I had the opportunity of speaking to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Eamon Ryan, on this matter when he was in the House.

I call on the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to instruct the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board to remove the necessity to purchase permits under the auspices of the midland fisheries group, for coarse and pike angling in respect of the Rivers Suck, Inny, Brosna, Little Brosna and Camlin.

This is the only board to impose such charges and this has made it very difficult for people in our area. I live in Castlecoote, County Roscommon. An adult annual fishing permit costs €37; a pensioner annual permit costs €19; a juvenile annual permit costs €13; an adult one-day permit costs €11; a juvenile one-day permit costs €2 and a 21-day permit costs €19. However, 12 km or more away from that area there is no charge. This is an anomaly which I ask the Minister and the Government to examine. I accept that as a result of amalgamation there will be just one fisheries board from next December but in the meantime we want to ensure the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board is directed to dispense with these charges which mean that visiting fishermen and anglers do not come to the rivers in our area.

I do not understand the reason the chief executive of the board has introduced this permit system. The Minister of State is aware of the difficulties we encountered with regard to the trout fishing licence some years ago. One member of the board was involved in an extensive campaign in the 1989 general election in opposition to that particular proposal. This charge was nevertheless imposed on fishermen in our area.

I come from Castlecoote, County Roscommon through which flows the River Suck. The Derryhippo River flows through my family farm into an adjoining lake. In order to fish on the waters flowing through our land we require a permit. It is as bad as in the days of the landlords when permits and rights were needed to fish on the rivers. All our rivers now run free but they certainly do not run free in Castlecoote and that area. In the circumstances I ask the Minister of State to convey to the Minister our concerns in this regard.

Recently, my daughter, Councillor Orla Leyden, and committee members of the international fishing festival which also caters for people with disabilities, ran a fishing competition in Ballinapark on Stoneham's lake. Some concessions were made but generally speaking, the journalists who came from the Netherlands and Germany noted that these charges were being imposed. A level playing pitch is required so everyone is treated equally. I question how one can fish in the River Shannon and not be charged for doing so.

Mr. Geoff Cooper is a countryside journalist from Kilglass, County Roscommon and he has provided me with details in this regard. People were stopped and licences and permits were demanded. I know of instances where anglers have been forced to leave the River Suck and they left the country ahead of time because they were so dismayed with their treatment. I realise that the rod licence covers more than 20 venues and that only five are open to coarse anglers. My request of the Minister is straightforward. I am unsure what powers there are to enforce this position but the Minister should call on the officials of the Department to issue a directive to have this charge removed in advance of the amalgamation of the fishing organisations.