I propose to take Questions Nos. 11, 22, 24, and 26 together.
All of the key recommendations in the Ballycotton report which relate to matters of operational safety have been implemented. In 1990-91 the fisheries board were provided with an additional £450,000 to purchase personal and communications equipment and to cover the cost of training in order to comply with the recommendations of the Ballycotton report.
In 1992 the regional fisheries boards were allocated an additional £130,000 to purchase additional semi-rigid inflatable boats, otherwise known as RIBs, to enable them to meet fully the recommendation of the report that RIBs should patrol only in pairs.
Regarding staff resources for the fisheries boards, I am actively pursuing the recommendation that deputy managers be appointed to the regional fisheries boards as part of my efforts to secure additional staff for the boards in key areas. However, the Deputy will appreciate that I am pursuing this matter against the background of a very difficult budgetary situation.
As recommended by the Ballycotton report, consideration has been given to the provision of larger seagoing vessels to patrol the area of sea between the six and 12 mile limit. Such consideration has, of course, to take account of the capacity of the Naval Service to police the salmon regulations within the 12 mile limit as a whole using the two fast inshore patrol vessels purchased in 1989.
The Department is currently working on proposals for inland fisheries to be put to Brussels under the EC Surveillance Programme as part of which the question of the purchase of larger vessels for salmon protection will be addressed. The operation of such larger vessels by the fisheries board would, of course, have staffing implications for the board in addition to those already being experienced and the making of such an application would in any event be contingent on matching Exchequer funds being made available.
In conclusion, I would like to stress in the strongest possible terms that it has been emphasised time and again to the fisheries boards that the safety of their staff must come first and that services should be provided only where reasonable safety requirements are met.