The Deputy has 12 minutes, leaving six for the Minister to reply.
Adjournment Debate. - Shannon Fish Pass.
I am raising this matter to draw the attention of the Minister to the fact that at Ardnacrusha, near Parteen, in County Clare a serious situation has obtained for the past four months or so. The fish pass there has been out of order during all that period. The pass is a type of lift which the ESB use to raise salmon above the dam which is approximately 100 feet high. The lift was installed approximately 15 years ago to enable the salmon to get above the dam, something which would otherwise be a physical impossibility for them. When the dam was built originally the ESB had to open the sluice gates to let the fish through at times, but they found this difficult or impossible, and this is why the pass is there.
I was approached by fishermen in the midlands and asked to raise this matter in the House because they are concerned that it has taken approximately four months to have the work carried out. I have been inquiring about it for some time and on each occasion I have been told that it would be fixed up in a while or something like that.
If the present situation continues without the lift being put back into working order salmon will be unable to get up along the Shannon and through Lough Derg up to the Little Brosna, through the Brosna proper and all the other rivers. Over a period of perhaps two years this will have a serious effect on salmon spawning. The spring salmon, salmon coming in in January and February, have been unable to get through the dam. I understand that once or twice the gates were opened but this has not been satisfactory. Also, if we were to have much rain at present it would cause difficulties.
Therefore, I am bringing the matter to the Minister's notice. He is the person on whom responsibility rests and he can use pressure to ensure that this work is completed at the earliest possible opportunity so that this lift will be put back into action.
A sizeable number of people are very involved and interested in fishing and they are seriously concerned at the length of time it has taken to have this work carried out. I appeal to the Minister to ensure that the fish pass is repaired immediately.
I am handing over to Deputy White for the remainder of my time.
The Minister knows that stocks have been declining for some years in the Parteen fish pass. Stocks there have been very unsatisfactory for some years past. I am sure the Minister is just as concerned as we are. We would like to thank Deputy Enright for bringing this to the Minister's notice. It is disturbing to both sides of the House if the lift, the means by which the fish can get through the Parteen fish pass, has been out of action—I understand there is such a thing as a lift into which the fish go and are then brought up under control and put back into the river—has not been working—I hope the Minister will tell us this in replying—for the past three or four months.
I have criticised the ESB in the past and I have to criticise them again tonight because I think the time has come when everything should be under the control of the Minister for Fisheries. I would hope that if the fish pass had been under the control of the Minister of Fisheries this matter would have been attended to immediately. If it was under private enterprise control, or if, as I hope it will be, it was under the new Central Board or the regional boards, there is no reason it or any other lift should not be fixed within a matter of hours or, at most, days. It would be very difficult for us to prove the true figures of salmon going through this fish pass unless the lift is actually working.
It will serve no purpose for the Minister to say that this lift will be in operation in a week or ten days. This fish pass should have been fixed immediately. I am very disappointed that the Minister has not seen his way to have that done. I hope what we have brought to the Minister's attention is not true. If it is true, it is a very serious accusation against the Department of Fisheries and the ESB in particular, since it is under their control, that they have not seen fit to get this pass fixed immediately.
Perhaps some background geographical and historical information would be helpful in explaining the problem that worries Deputy Enright and Deputy White. The Shannon Scheme started in 1925 and was completed in 1929. This involved the diversion of the river by a weir at Parteen Villa four miles below Killaloe. The water was diverted through a canal seven-and-a-quarter miles long to the power station at Ardnacrusha. A fall of 100 feet approximately is obtained here at the dam and the water flows by a tailrace one-and-a-quarter miles long to meet the old watercourse at St. Thomas's Island two miles above Limerick.
Navigational locks for boats were provided at Ardnacrusha and a pool type fish pass was provided at Parteen Villa weir to allow fish ascending the old river channel to surmount the weir. Since 1929, salmon have had two chances of going up the Shannon. First, they could enter the tailrace or, secondly, they could go through the old channel, as many did, up the old water course, some into the Mulcaire River and others through the fish pass at Parteen.
As Deputy Enright said, that system was not entirely satisfactory as the fish were inclined to enter the tailrace and lie about there. They would not use the navigational lock and they were not inclined to go back down river one-and-a-quarter miles to the old channel. So another system was devised to enable fish to get over the dam. It was a very novel and elaborate fish lift, and it came into operation in 1959 and proved to be very successful ever since. It appeared to be attractive to the salmon coming upstream.
During the recent annual maintenance work to this fish lift it was discovered that faults had developed in the roller system of the gates. These required major repairs and replacements, which are being carried out as quickly as possible. I can assure Deputy White that this is not something you can replace or repair in a day, nor can I tell him that it will be repaired tomorrow. I believe the repairs will be completed within the next three weeks.
I am as concerned as both Deputies that the gates in the fish lift will be operating before the main run of salmon in June, and I have impressed on the ESB how vital it is to have the work completed as soon as is humanly possible. In the meantime, instructions have been given to keep the area under constant observation and to operate the locks as a regular procedure to allow salmon to escape upstream.
I should say there is no large scale concentration of fish yet at Ardnacrusha, nor is it possible in operating the locks to see how many fish escape. Because of the depth of the water it is not possible to see them unless they jump. I do know, however, that salmon are passing through the Parteen weir, and five salmon went through last week. This should indicate that the main run of salmon has not yet commenced. It should also convince Deputies that salmon have an option of going up river by taking the old water course and going through the Parteen weir. In a nutshell, salmon have three options open to them to ascend the Shannon. Two are operating at Parteen and at the navigational lock. The third and most important is being repaired and will be ready before the main run starts.
Deputy Enright mentioned that the fish lift had been out of operation for four months. I have no evidence that that is correct. He said he has been drawing attention to this fact and nothing has been done.
I said I had been making inquiries.
I was not aware of his interest until today. I do not really know what good the debate on the adjournment tonight has done for the salmon. A query to me or my Department would have elicited the information I have given tonight in a much easier way for everybody concerned. I regret the hold up due to the wear and tear to a fish lift which has operated successfully for 21 years. As the song says, 21 years is a mighty long time. Even the Fianna Fáil machine gave a little wobble after 16 years in 1973 but we corrected it at the very first opportunity and brought in a record catch of 84, if I remember correctly. I trust both Deputies will accept that the fish lift in Ardnacrusha will be fully operational as soon as possible. In the meantime, every help will be given to the salmon to escape upstream to spawn.
The Dáil adjourned at 9 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 15 May 1980.