Written answers

Wednesday, 21 April 2021

Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Inland Fisheries

Photo of Seán CanneySeán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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228. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the National Inland Fisheries Forum; when it last met; his plans to reconvene the forum; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18486/21]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The National Inland Fisheries Forum (NIFF) was established by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) in accordance with Section 7 of the Inland Fisheries Act 2010 to facilitate broad stakeholder input into policy formulation. The first two terms of the NIFF have expired and the last meeting took place in April 2018. Officials from my Department are currently working with the IFI to establish the NIFF for a new term, seeking to broaden the focus of the group towards overarching rather than sub-sector specific considerations. I envisage that the membership of the Forum will reflect this more strategic focus. Pending nominations and appointments, the new Forum will be operational as soon as possible. In the meantime I progressed the initiative, commenced by the Deputy when he was Minister of State, and established, in November 2020, the Angling Consultative Council of Ireland (ACCI) to provide a platform for co-operation in policy inputs and addressing shared issues for angling specifically, across its diverse disciplines.  The Group is open to all National Angling Representative Bodies with 8 such Bodies signed up and a further 2 recently confirming their participation. I expect this will assist in the necessary streamlining of NIFF which will encompass a much broader inland fisheries stakeholder base.

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