Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We move now to our final Commencement matter. The Minister of State is very busy this morning as he has also to deal with this matter in the name of Senator Kyne, who is very welcome to the House this morning. This Commencement matter deals with the need for the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to make a statement on the review to be conducted under section 18(3) of the Inland Fisheries Act 2010 in respect of the functions of Inland Fisheries Ireland and the Senator has four minutes to introduce the matter.

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach and I thank the Cathaoirleach's office for choosing this Commencement debate. I must, however, express my concern that the wording I submitted was not exactly the wording chosen by the Cathaoirleach's office. The wording that I submitted was the need for the Minister to make a statement on irregularities within Inland Fisheries Ireland from 1 January 2021 to date. That has been rephrased by somebody. That is the wording-----

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It has not been rephrased in my response. It is there as the Senator has called it out.

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Has it been rephrased by the office of the Cathaoirleach?

Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have no control of what the office does-----

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Absolutely , but it has been rephrased.

Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Senator may take up the issue with the Cathaoirleach's office himself.

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In a note to Deputies and Senators on 16 May from the private secretary of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, with regard to the focus of the review, it mentions that there is an investigation being carried out from the specific dates of 1 February to 27 April of this year. I have to ask the question why these specific dates were chosen. Are letters of correspondence which came in early or mid-January to be excluded from the debate and the engagement?

I welcome the fact that there will be engagement under this review with all board members and I suggest that they may have a great deal to say. Who set the terms and chose these dates? Did the CEO of Inland Fisheries Ireland have a role in this or was it just the Department? Why is the Minister using his powers to investigate the board but not the organisation of Inland Fisheries Ireland?It was suggested in the Minister’s note that reports of significant irregularities that have been identified, including in relation to dormant accounts funding, procurement, vehicle insurance, use of Inland Fisheries Ireland vessels and leasing of the Aasleagh Lodge property, have been previously considered and addressed in statements of internal control. The statement of internal control did not come to any premature conclusions on these items. Some including property lease, procurement and dormant accounts funding are still subject to investigation by the Comptroller and Auditor General. All of these issues were very much under active investigation during 1 February to 27 April, so why are they not included in Conleth Bradley’s review? Why was not the Comptroller and Auditor General’s investigation mentioned by the Minister in the note to Oireachtas Members?

In response to reports by ASM Accountants and ByrneWallace law firm commissioned by the board, the CEO stood down the Inland Fisheries Ireland outreach and education operation and refused to accept some €800,000 dormant accounts funding in 2021. The Aasleagh Lodge lease agreement was also ended. Why did the board, with the agreement of the CEO, take these decisions if it did not think the concerns were serious, as outlined in the Minister’s note? If the Minister’s note to Oireachtas Members states that these matters were addressed, why was there no explanation given in the note to Oireachtas Members and why is there no investigation into these matters?

The Minister’s 16 May note also states that it was entirely inaccurate to suggest that an angling club that exists got funding. IFI confirmed the club has a club constitution, bank accounts and tax clearance. However, it did not have those when the fund was applied for or when the fund was approved. How was the funding issued to a club with no bank account? I think it was issued through a third party and I understand that there was an email thread to this effect.

Following thorough investigation by the board of Inland Fisheries Ireland, it was discovered that there were 16 uninsured vehicles on the road at the time of a crash involving one of these vehicles on 10 August 2021 in Donegal. Inaccurate information was presented to the board about the failures within IFI to ensure vehicles were insured. This is evidence of an organisation that is not able to do its basic work.

Why, after all this, is it the board that is being investigated? It is the board that has pursued the truth and carried out investigations into wrongdoing. It is simply because the board did not go along with the CEO and the Department. It was independent, as it should be. It was not willing to bend to the CEO’s will if it disagreed. The Minister, to my disappointment, has agreed to investigate the board, in my view, in the hope that the board will be disbanded and a more obedient board might be put in place.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. The Senator will have to understand that I am here on behalf of the Minister, who cannot be here. I will simply have to be very faithful to the script in front of me. I am sure the Senator can take up the issues further with the Minister.

I want to thank the Senator for the opportunity to clarify these important matters which were raised, of course, in this House earlier this month and were subsequently the subject of media reports on Inland Fisheries Ireland. These reports have suggested significant irregularities have been identified in the organisation. On 10 May, these assertions were fully addressed in a detailed information note provided to the Senator setting out the factual position in relation to same.

The fact is that these issues have been previously considered and addressed through the then chair's statutory statement of internal control, external audit reviews and correspondence between IFI and the Department, and the IFI board's own assessment of these matters, which my Department has accepted.

It should be noted that the suggestion made in this House and contained in media reports that IFI grant aided, via dormant accounts funding, an angling club that "did not exist" are entirely inaccurate. IFI has confirmed that the club in question was established before the funds were applied for, has a club constitution, bank account and tax clearance certificate and is affiliated to the Irish Federation of Sea Angling Clubs.

On foot of the Seanad Order of Business matter on 5 May, it was also suggested in the various media reports that the Minister had appointed a senior counsel to examine these matters. This is inaccurate. The Department fully accepts the assurances of the former chair and the board that these issues and allegations have been addressed, are being addressed or should be entirely refuted.

The Minister has appointed Mr. Conleth Bradley, senior counsel, under section 18 of the Inland Fisheries Act 2010 to carry out a review of the exercise by the board of its functions under the Act. The focus of the section 18 review by Mr. Bradley is quite specific and relates to issues in correspondence between the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the board members of IFI from the period of 1 Feb to 27 April. It includes letters of 4 March and 7 April from Department to the then chair, the 22 April letter from the then chair to Department, as well as email notifications and subsequent letters from other board members.

As part of the review and as required under section 18(4) of the Inland Fisheries Act 2010, IFI board members, including those who were members between the above dates but have since resigned, management and personnel are required to co-operate with the review and provide help to Mr. Bradley. It is likely that Mr. Bradley will engage directly with all board members on an individual basis. The review does not in any way relate to the matters raised on the Order of Business on 5 May and in subsequent media reports.

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for reading the reply, which is similar to the note that was issued to Oireachtas Members on 16 May. The last line said the review does not in any way relate the matters I raised on the Order of Business on 5 May. That is the whole point – it should. It should investigate all of the matters that I have raised.

The Minister of State is right, it states my wording in relation to the matter is there on the top, but that is not what was read out by the Cathaoirleach. It changed along the way, and it did not change within the Seanad Office without the intervention of the Department. There was quite specific wording given to the Seanad Office by the Department. For some reason, it did not want this to appear on the record - irregularities within Inland Fisheries Ireland from 1 January 2021 to date. It had the wording that I put down, yet the script it provided to the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, did not answer any of the things relating to 2021. It related to just 1 February to 27 April.

The response from the office of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Department is a total whitewash. There needs to be a thorough investigation into the matters that I have asked. There needs to be a new note sent to Oireachtas Members regarding the inaccuracies that I have reported here today regarding its 16 May note. I would ask that the terms of reference of the investigation be broadened to include the matters I outlined today. I also ask the Minister to carry out a review, similar to that which was arranged for the National Parks and Wildlife Service. I ask for a full review of Inland Fisheries Ireland. I had hoped, with a new CEO being appointed in 2020, I think it was, that we would have a new approach-----

Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have been very generous with time.

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

-----into Inland Fisheries Ireland. However, unfortunately, I am very disappointed with the road that the new CEO is taking. In addition, now I see the Minister is targeting the board rather than investigating the matters that the board has raised and pursued.

Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am sorry I interrupted, but I let Senator go way over on time. Can the Minister of State make a short response, please?

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I would reiterate that the current review under section 18 does not focus, as the Senator said, on the allegations raised on the Order of Business on 5 May. It does not focus on those allegations which gave rise to subsequent media reports, nor does the section 18 review include other allegations made in an anonymous disclosure earlier this year against a senior member of IFI staff. That is already the subject of a separate independent internal investigation in IFI and in respect of which the relevant staff member remains on suspension. That investigation is entirely within the remit of IFI and neither my Department nor I have any role. I want to be clear that the statutory provisions of section 18 are very specific, connected entirely with the performance of the board and could encompass in their scope the issues raised on the Order of Business on 5 May. The focus of the review is entirely on the functioning of the board.

Separately, I would like to inform the House that IFI is preparing a strategic plan for the consideration of the Minister, which would set out the structures and resources necessary to support Inland Fisheries Ireland in delivering its key statutory role of conserving, protecting, developing and promoting Ireland’s precious inland fisheries resource.

Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Obviously, the Senator will take this matter up again. I wish to express my thanks to the Minister of State for taking the four Commencement matters. I know some of them were not in his area. I also thank Senators Garvey, Warfield and Kyne for being with us. As always, I thank the staff of the House for their assistance and co-operation, and the ushers as well.