Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State on his reappointment. I am sure he is delighted. It is nice to be reappointed to an office and he has retained his portfolio in the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. It is a happy day for him and his family and a great honour. I know what it is like myself having had the personal experience of being reappointed in different Departments. I wish the Minister of State well in his office.

Fianna Fáil supports the Bill in principle. It is a crucial and urgent amendment to confer an explicit power on Inland Fisheries Ireland to bring and prosecute summary proceedings for inland fisheries offences. IFI is the main body with responsibility for protecting Ireland's inland waterways and up to 12 nautical miles off the coast and the fish that inhabit them from illegal poaching or overfishing and other illegal activity. Prosecution is one of the main deterrents to illegal fishing activities in the long term but as of now the IFI's power to prosecute is open to challenge. This has been confirmed by the Office of the Attorney General which has asserted that the 2010 Act should be amended to more clearly state and affirm the powers of IFI to prosecute all summary offences. Clearly, we urgently need to address this situation.

The Minister of State knows that I have made a very strong issue of the treatment of fisheries in our area. I welcome his officials here today. We had a presentation from IFI in Buswell's Hotel and I have received other communications since then. However, nothing has really come from the Minister of State's Department as such. The general line has been that IFI was waiting for the Department to communicate with me in this particular regard. I have a letter from Dr. Ciaran Byrne, the chief executive officer, dated 3 February 2017. In the letter, he thanked me for taking the time to attend the briefing day for Oireachtas Members held on 25 January. He states that on the points I raised, he prepared a note for the Department and understood that it would communicate with me on it shortly. He states that as my point was raised at the briefing day, the Department was anxious to respond to me directly and says he would be happy to engage directly with me on this and any other matter once the Department had the chance to respond formally to my concerns. He trusts that I find that satisfactory and again thanks me for taking the time out of my busy schedule to come across to the open day.

Areas are not being treated equally. In his script, the Minister of State made it clear that there is one organisation now which comprises what were the Central Fisheries Board and several regional boards. That is so. What has happened is that the Government has discriminated against the midlands fisheries group where a permit is required. Anglers in the Shannon region must have a permit, which incurs a charge, to fish for trout, pike or to engage in coarse angling in the midlands fisheries group of controlled waters. This area comprises the River Suck and its tributaries, Lough O'Flynn, Lough Acalla, Hollygrove Lake, Stonehams Lake, which adjoins our land at Castlecoote in Roscommon, Lough Lung, and Blacks Lake, also in the townland of Castlecoote.The restriction is there too. The area also comprises the River Inny and tributaries, the River Brosna and tributaries, the Little Brosna River and tributaries and the Camlin River and tributaries. In that regard, it means that a fisherman who comes from England will have to pay €45 for an adult annual permit. A senior citizen has to pay €25. A juvenile annual permit costs €20. An adult one-day permit costs €20. A juvenile one-day permit costs €10. A 21-day permit from the Midland Fisheries Group is €25 and a family day ticket is €20.

I will support the Bill today but I will do everything I can on this side of the House to prevent the passage of the Bill through Committee and Report Stages unless there is equity and fairness. I appeal to my colleagues in Sinn Féin, who I think would be very much in favour of fairness in this regard. How can the Minister of State discriminate against one area of Ireland and say a permit is required? This affects us and the jobs and tourism in our area. If the Minister of State wants to bring in charges, that is another issue which he will have to get through Government and the Oireachtas. I am not advocating it because, as the song goes, all our rivers run free, and that is the feeling. The trout fishers Bill was brought in and practically brought down a Government some years ago. Some of the same people who opposed it at the time seemingly slipped this in with regard to the Shannon fisheries area.

I am glad to get an opportunity today to make a good point for the people in the constituency of Roscommon-Galway who are affected by this situation. I appeal to all Members of this House to go along with me in this particular regard. I am making a request of the Minister of State and the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten. I am putting pressure on the Minister in particular. He cannot allow this discrimination. It is just not on. One cannot justify it. It is inequitable. In fact, I would consider that someone could not be pursued for not having these permits because this does not apply to the Republic of Ireland but to a specific area only.

I cannot understand how the Minister of State has not reacted already. He is in the job and we spoke about this in January. I want a response from him. I also want to say that, whatever action I take, I will do everything in my power to stop this Bill going through. Let me be quite clear about it. Unless the Minister of State brings around fairness and equity, I will filibuster on Committee Stage, Report Stage and every other Stage. We accept this in principle. However, as an elected representative from Roscommon to Dáil Éireann 40 years ago last Friday, I for one could never stand by a discrimination against an area. This is affecting tourism, business and promotion.

How can we promote in Britain fishing in our area, where they will have to pay €45, while they can go down to parts of County Longford and pay nothing to fish on the River Shannon?

I make the case to the Minister of State to go back to Government to say that this situation must be rectified. I will go the whole way on this. I will pursue this in my party. We accept it in principle, but I will be lobbying at a parliamentary party level and every other level. The situation is simple. The same rules should be applied for all fishing in Ireland. It is as simple as that. I will accept that with a heart and a half.