James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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514. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the timeframe for Inland Fisheries Ireland to ensure safe passage for salmon at a location (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10035/20]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I am advised by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) that the question of fish passage at Clohamon on the river Slaney relates to the abstraction of water for use in a private hydro-electric plant.  IFI’s powers in this matter, under section 123 of the Fisheries Consolidation Act 1959, relate to the legal requirements for gratings in watercourses diverted from rivers which are intended to prevent entry therein of salmon or trout.  There are no powers under the 1959 Act directly related to water abstraction activity.

 The fishing rights on the Slaney are privately owned and my Department and IFI have worked closely with the Slaney River Trust, the group representing the owners, and have supported the Trust on a project to improve tailrace screening at the Clohamon site to assist in mitigating impacts on fish passage.  This support has included the provision of funding to assist the project.