Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and congratulate him on his re-appointment. I wish him well for the years ahead. I welcome this piece of legislation that is in effect closing a loophole that was left open when the other powers were transferred several years ago from the Central Fisheries Board to Inland Fisheries Ireland. I welcome the addressing of the issue of prosecutions as outlined by the Minister of State in his speech.

I have some questions for the Minister of State. A number of years ago we banned draft netting and drift net fishing because of the amount of salmon stock. The ban was meant to increase these stocks throughout the catchment areas. Has this ban been as effective as was hoped? I would also like to ask the Minister of State about the restocking of lakes. I know that Inland Fisheries Ireland has a restocking programme in place but it has been brought to my attention that some lakes that were restocked in the past were not restocked this year. Loch Lannagh outside Castlebar is one example. What will be the case in the future? Will there be a restocking programme on a rotational basis or what is the mechanism for this?

I would also like to congratulate the staff in Inland Fisheries Ireland for their great work in maintaining the rivers and lakes throughout the country. I also commend landowners on giving access to people to fish. We have a great product here but more could be done to promote Irish angling in Europe in particular because there is a clientele there for angling. We have great angling lakes and rivers and we could promote the whole area of our inland fisheries much more. Every fish that is caught on a rod, whether it is a salmon or a trout or whatever, is worth much more to the local economy than just the value of the fish, when we consider restaurants, bars, bed and breakfasts and hotels. This is an area then that we should give some thought to and promote.