Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Apologies for that in advance. These statements are being taken later than originally planned.

I am pleased to have this opportunity to come before the Seanad and address the matters raised as regards Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI. I am keen to assist the Senators in further understanding recent events.

As Members will be aware, there have been a number of resignations from the board of IFI, including two chairpersons, in the period since April 2022. The required quorum for a meeting pursuant to section 20(5) of the Inland Fisheries Act 2010 is five members. However, following the resignation of two board members in January, including the then chair, a quorum could not be attained and Inland Fisheries Ireland was, as a consequence, unable to carry out its key statutory functions set out under section 7 of the Inland Fisheries Act 2010. Taking account of this, I decided on 14 February to exercise my powers as Minister under section 18 of the Inland Fisheries Act and removed the members of IFI on a no-fault basis. Where a Minister decides to remove the board of IFI, it is open to the Minister under section 18(5) to appoint a person or persons to carry out the functions of the board. In that regard, I appointed two retired senior public servants, Mr. Tom Barry and Mr. Seamus Neely, on 14 February to carry out the functions of the board for a six-month period, pending the appointment of a new board via the appointments process set out under section 12 of the Inland Fisheries Act with the support of the Public Appointments Service.

In making the appointments under section 18(5), and in addition to carrying out the core statutory functions of IFI, I directed Mr. Barry and Mr. Neely to give particular priority to ensuring that all protected disclosures on hand in IFI, which could not be progressed in the absence of a working quorum, are dealt with promptly and in accordance with IFI's protected disclosures policies and the provisions of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014; and to carry out an external review of governance within IFI, including an examination of the respective roles of the IFI board and executive. The review will be completed within six months and will include an implementation plan, delivery of which will be overseen by a new board. My Department has been engaging with the Public Appointments Service to expedite the process of appointing a full new board.

I trust this has been of assistance and I am happy to answer questions Senators may have.