Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for a very comprehensive reply, which contained a lot of detail that I had tried not to go into in my contribution. However, I accept that in order to explain it, one has to go into that type of detail. I would ask that during the lead-up to the decision time, which is in November, and then the final decision in December, there is more engagement with local people involved in this aspect of fishing, but also all aspects of fishing, because there seems to be a vacuum of information and people find there is a fait accompli.
Will the Minister of State comment on the issue of there being no fish counter on the River Suir? As I said in my opening remarks, there are only 25 rivers with fish counters out of the 148, as I have it, or 143, as the Minister of State has it, salmon fishing rivers in the country. Has he any information as to whether the other rivers have fish counters? Where there are salmon fish counters, it is a clear black and white situation. The other methodologies such as the salmon red surveys and the juvenile salmon index survey are much less scientific, given the results depend on weather and many other factors, and, therefore, cannot be as accurate. The Minister of State might respond on the issue of salmon counters on the rivers that do not have them. Is any budget being provided for those and what is the current situation?