Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I again raise the issue of Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI. I acknowledge the enormous work Senator Kyne has done on this issue. He is exceptionally exercised about it, and rightly so. I take this opportunity to renew our call to the Minister to come before the House. I do not think there is any division in the House regarding this request. It is important that we unify in this House, look at all options and send a very clear message to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, that we want him to come to the House to talk about IFI. We do not have to be left, right, centre or divided in the House; let us work together.

Yesterday, I indicated that I intended to bring a motion before House today. On reflection - I thank the Office of the Leader and Senator Kyne in this regard - we will hold off on the motion in the hope that we will get can consensus and agreement from the Minister. I want to flag that a motion will come before the House next week. I hope we can unite on it. It is all very well to highlight and talk about issues, but we have the power in the House to send a strong and clear message.

I want to deal with responsibility, accountability, the allocation of budgets and resources and personnel, the importance of integrity, transparency and public concern and the loss of confidence. Even the Minister has lost confidence. Through no fault of his own, he has stood down the remainder of the board. I am not attributing any claim to the remaining members of the board, but there are clearly issues in the organisation. It is to be hoped we can work together and have the Minister in the House to address this.

To suggest the Minister cannot come to the House for a few weeks is not really good enough. Let us work together and show unity in the House, and get the Minister here and put rigorous questions to him. We should subject him to a question-and-answer session on his involvement and the fact he failed to appoint other members to the board.