asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he will amend the Control of Fishing for Salmon Order, 1973 so that a salmon drift net licence may be issued to a person in County Galway (details supplied) and other fishermen from the Aran Islands who have not held a salmon drift net licence for the required two year period.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Salmon Licences.
26.
Prior to making the Control of Fishing for Salmon Order 1973, I gave full consideration to the feasibility of making some special provision for island fishermen but, in view of the implications of such a provision and the urgent need for conservation of the salmon stocks, it was not possible to implement the proposal. In the circumstances I do not propose to amend the order on the lines suggested by the Deputy.
Why does the Parliamentary Secretary feel that by granting drift net salmon licences to the few fishermen who exist on the Aran Islands he will in some way seriously interfere with the salmon stocks in this country? On what basis did he make that decision?
The position so far as the islands mentioned by the Deputy are concerned is that in the year in which my predecessor, Deputy Fahey, made his order two applicants from the Aran Islands were successful. In this present year we had seven applications from the Aran Islands and by virtue of the order I made the board were in a position to grant six. Therefore, so far as the Aran Islands are concerned, we have trebled the number of licences. There is only one unsuccessful applicant who seemingly had no merit at all in his application so I do not see what the crib is.
The applicant to whom the Parliamentary Secretary is referring is a full-time fisherman and I do not see why he should state that the man has no merit. This will be the biggest laugh on the Aran Islands when I go back and tell them what he said.
Question No. 27. I am afraid we are in the realm of argument.
The Parliamentary Secretary is completely out of touch with fishery matters and he has no other responsibility.
He has—west Cork.
That is an untruthful statement, to put it mildly. From the information supplied to me by the local board the man has no merit in his application——
The Parliamentary Secretary must not attribute to any Member that he is telling an untruth.
What are the reasons for the lack of merit?
He does not qualify under the regulations.
Is he a fisherman?
Question No. 27. The Chair has called the next question.
I give notice of my intention to raise this matter on the Adjournment if I am not allowed to query the Parliamentary Secretary satisfactorily.
I will communicate with the Deputy in that regard.
27.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he is aware that salmon drift net fishing by Aran islanders was not practised until last year; and if for that reason he considers that the Control of Fishing for Salmon Order, 1973 discriminates against Aran fishermen.
The Deputy is not correct in stating that salmon drift net fishing by Aran islanders was not practiced until last year. Following a bye-law made in 1969 permitting drift netting for salmon in the Galway, Ballinakill and Connemara fishery districts, drift net licences were issued to Aran Island fishermen each year since 1969 and in 1974 six of the seven applicants from Aran were successful in obtaining licences.
As the eligibility for salmon net licences in the Galway, Connemara and Ballinakill fishery districts is based on participation in salmon fishing in the years from 1969 to 1973, as compared with 1968 to 1973 for the other fishery districts, there is no discrimination under the order against Aran Island fishermen.
The Parliamentary Secretary has already informed me that two salmon licences were issued in 1973. That should be sufficient proof to anybody that drift net salmon fishing was not generally practised in the Aran Islands, that this is only recent and it is recent because——
The Deputy is embarking on a statement.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware—even though he has read it out he does not seem to be aware—that there was a total ban on the use of drift nets for salmon fishing off the County Galway coast for about 40 years until we successfully lifted that ban, thanks to Deputy Blaney when he was Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries. It could not have been practised up to 1969.
The Deputy is making a speech. If the Deputy persists I will have no option but to call the next question.
I am aware that in 1969 three licences were issued, in 1970 two licences, in 1971 two licences, in 1972—the year of the hikers—two licences, in 1973 an increase to five and in 1974 an increase to six. Six of the seven applicants from the Aran Islands were successful and it is reasonable to assume that were it not for the change of Government only two would have been successful.
I should like to ask the Parliamentary Secretary whether he has made any investigation into this and has he any information other than the facts presented to him by his civil servants. Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that there are circumstances surrounding these applications which debarred some of the applicants from getting salmon licences in the year 1972-73 after the introduction of the Salmon Fishery Order? For instance, the non-collection of post due to bad weather meant that some of the applications were late.
The Chair must move on. Deputy Molloy wants to debate at Question Time and that cannot be tolerated. I am calling the next question.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware there are other circumstances which inhibited some persons in their applications?
The claims given by the gentleman the Deputy is worried about in his application form indicate that he neither held licences in the years 1969 to 1973 nor fished for salmon in those years. Consequently, the board had no option but to reject the application.
The Parliamentary Secretary has shown very little interest in the problems of the people of the Aran Islands.
Deputy Molloy is stultifying progress at Question Time in a very big way today.
These people are being deprived of making an honest livelihood. How would the Parliamentary Secretary like to have to make a living on the Aran Islands?
I will meet the people of the Aran Islands to discuss the position.
The Parliamentary Secretary would be eaten without salt.
Next question. Deputy Molloy should desist.
28.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he will increase the number of salmon drift net licences for 1974 in the board areas of Bangor, Ballina and Ballinakill, County Mayo.
The maximum number of drift net licences that boards of conservators may issue for the 1974 season is the number of such licences the boards validly issued in 1973. I do not propose to increase it.
29.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he has considered the circumstances in which a salmon drift net licence has been refused to a person in County Galway (name supplied); and if he will arrange for the issue of a licence in this case.
As I have previously informed the Deputy, the issue of salmon drift net licences is a matter for Boards of Conservators without the need for reference to my Department.
I understand, however, that neither the Ballinakill nor the Connemara Board of Conservators have received an application for a licence from the person in question in respect of the 1974 season, but on the basis of information furnished by him in connection with an application which he made for a licence in 1973 it would appear that he would not qualify this year.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary consider abolishing the Boards of Conservators altogether?
That is a separate question.
The Deputy was in government for a number of years and he could have given some consideration to that suggestion during those years.
The Coalition have been in government for 12 months.
The Coalition have no ideas of their own.
I have ideas of my own.
The Parliamentary Secretary would not know a fish if he saw one.
The system of election for Boards of Conservators is going to be drastically changed by me.
(Interruptions.)
We know of the number of licences for salmon fishing being issued by the Parliamentary Secretary in his own area to his own pals.
If the Deputy is going to show such a disregard for the ruling of the Chair I shall have to ask him to leave the House.
If Deputy Molloy is to be truthful he should state that the only board that was abolished was the Cork Board.
We all know what happened there.
Licences for the boys.
The Chair has called the next question.