Michael Comiskey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support my colleague, Senator Jim D'Arcy, in calling on the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Deenihan, to extend the date for burning on commonages. The Oireachtas committee has discussed commonages a great deal in recent weeks.

It is very important for the management of commonages that farmers are allowed to burn in a managed way until 15 April, as is the case with colleagues in Northern Ireland.

I welcome the agreement overnight on the dumping of fish. That came from a meeting chaired by our Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney. It is a good move as we have seen for a number of years people exceeding a quota and dumping perfectly good fish overboard. It is a welcome development.