Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. I also welcome the opportunity to say a few words on this very serious situation. On a number of occasions, I had the privilege of being nominated to stand for the Seanad by the Central Fisheries Board and I represented it here. At the time, the central board was made up of regional boards. There were such boards in the north, the west, the south, the south east and the east. At that time, inland fishing tourism in Ireland was flourishing. Competitions were held in lakes and on rivers. As the Minister well knows, we have what are probably the best fishing lakes in Europe. The River Moy is the best salmon river in Europe. However, I have been talking to people in the tourism sector and fishing tourism is dead. There are very few involved in it and very few fishing tournaments are taking place. You have to ask why that is. I live quite close to a lake in Castlebar and I do not see any work, or very little work, being carried out. At that time, work was done on all the small tributaries into the rivers and lakes so that they could be used as spawning beds for fish. That was done every year. I do not see that work being carried out now. In all the years I have been in here, this is the worst case I have seen brought to my attention. A State body has never been reported to me in the fashion that this has been reported to me. Senator Kyne has ploughed a lone furrow on this matter for quite a long time, nearly 12 months now.

I feel very sorry for the board as well. The board members were exonerated by the Bradley report but, in the decision the Minister made, he felt he had no choice but to sack the board and put two ex-county managers, Mr. Neely and Mr. Barry, in place. What exactly are their functions? Are they the same functions the board had? Are they the people who will be handling protected disclosures? I got a letter from Mr. Griffin, the Secretary General, who said that an investigation will take place into the issues I wrote to him about, which related to Aasleagh Falls. The way the central board was looking after the falls was pathetic. It is a fabulous property. Mr. Griffin said that all of the matters I raised with him would be forwarded to an investigator. Who is the investigator? I got another letter which said that under the Protected Disclosures Act, it could be the Secretary General of the Department who would investigate disclosures or any other information. Will Mr. Barry, Mr. Neely or both of them be dealing with the protected disclosures? There is some ambiguity in the correspondence I have received with regard to who will carry out those investigations.

It is a very sad day for inland fisheries. They are a natural resource for the country. As I have said, we have the best fishing lakes and rivers but the whole thing is in turmoil. As people say, there is no smoke without fire. Senator Kyne has outlined the shenanigans going in with regard to interviews for jobs, coaching people for jobs within the system, showing favouritism and so forth. They have also been outlined by Senator Boyhan. Most of all, these shenanigans have been brought to our attention by the public, people working in the field and board members. Some sort of shenanigans must be going on with regard to one of our State's national resources. It is a fabulous resource. I know the Minister has the best interests of this sector at heart. I hope he will take a very firm hand in resolving this issue and that the board he will institute as a replacement will be a good board that will make sure everything will be dealt with in an efficient and straightforward fashion. If people have to lose jobs or be moved on as a consequence, those things will have to be dealt with because we have to act in the best interests of a natural resource in this country. I have no doubt that the Minister will act in that way and I hope he does so immediately because we cannot let this drag on. It should not drag on.