Joint Committee on Public Petitions and the Ombudsmen debate -
Thursday, 29 Jun 2023

Decisions on Public Petitions Received

An Cathaoirleach

We have two petitions for consideration today. Petition No. P00008/23, stop legal netting of Atlantic salmon in Castlemaine harbour, from Mr. Danial Brosnan. The summary of the petition is that the petitioner advises that the continued legal netting of an endangered species, Atlantic salmon, in a special area of conservation, Castlemaine harbour, where Atlantic salmon are an actual quantifying interest. With salmon returning at an all-time low and with inadequate data being provided by a fish counter on the River Maine, this is an actual environmental crime being sanctioned by the Government. More than 2,000 signatures have been signed in an online petition.

The petitions case manager corresponded with Mr. Brendan Gleeson, Secretary General of Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, on 6 April 2023. A response was received recommending that the secretariat correspond with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. The petitions case manager corresponded with Mr. Denis Maher, head of the Inland Fisheries division, on 26 April 2023 and received a reply on 26 May 2023. The response was sent to the petitioner for comment within 14 days. The petitioner sent in two responses on 9 and 10 June 2023 where he raised several questions for the head of the Inland Fisheries division to respond to.

On 20 June the secretariat received another correspondence from the petitioner with a letter from Ms Sarah Healy, AIE officer, to the petitioner refusing an access to information on the environment, AIE, request by the petitioner for data from the 2018 fish counter on the River Maine.

The recommendation is that the committee recommends that the questions from the petitioner be forwarded to the head of the Inland Fisheries division of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications for comment within 14 days. Have members any comments on that?

Deputy Pat Buckley

I agree with the recommendation. It is ongoing. It will be interesting to see what the response will be but I agree with the recommendation.

An Cathaoirleach

It is an issue Mr. Brosnan has brought up. It is probably frustrating for the petitioner and all the interested parties involved in the petition to be denied the freedom of information request. However, what must be taken on board is that Inland Fisheries' reason for doing this is based on protecting the location of the breeding grounds of the rare species. We can get answers to the range of questions submitted by the petitioner and ask for a detailed response. It may assist in getting a better idea of the methodology being used in that.

Deputy Pat Buckley

Absolutely.

An Cathaoirleach

To the best of our knowledge, that is one of the reasons the freedom of information request has been denied, in that if you get that information, it identifies the breeding ground.

The next petition is No. P00014/23 - larger dogs on trains - from Ms Melissa Serpico. The petitions case manager corresponded with Mr. Ken Spratt, Secretary General of the Department of Transport on 7 May 2023 and received a reply on 20 June 2023. An extract from the reply reads:

To summarise, excluding guide-dogs/assistance dogs, the carriage of dogs on services is a matter for the individual operators to decide upon:

1. Dogs are currently not permitted on Luas or Bus Éireann services.

2. Small dogs are allowed (on lap) on Irish Rail services, with specific provision for larger dogs where that can be accommodated.

3. Dogs are allowed on Dublin Bus and Go-Ahead Ireland services at the discretion of the driver (e.g. they may be asked to place the dog on their lap or at their feet).

The committee recommends that the correspondence from the Department of Transport be forwarded to the petitioner for comment within 14 days. Has anybody any views on that?

Deputy Pat Buckley

It is interesting to note that it can be discretionary. I would like to see what will come back. I agree with that recommendation.

An Cathaoirleach

It might be worth asking the transport operators what limitations apply. The area of concern is the issue of space, safety and insurance. We all know what insurance can cost in this country. The petitioner quoted in her petition that many countries in Europe allow dogs. Is the recommendation of the committee agreed?

Deputy Pat Buckley

Agreed.

An Cathaoirleach

That concludes our consideration of public petitions. I would like to invite members of the public to submit petitions via our online portal which is available at: petitions.oireachtas.ie. A petition may be addressed to the Houses of the Oireachtas on a matter of general public concern or interest or an issue of public policy.

Is there any other business? Do members wish to make any final comments?

Deputy Pat Buckley

I thank the secretariat and the staff because, as the Cathaoirleach said, we do not see all their work on the correspondence that goes to and fro. That has to be acknowledged. It is hard work.

An Cathaoirleach

As always, I will support that. We know the amount of work that goes into making our work on the committee easy. We thank Caoímhe for stepping in today as Karen is on a break. We had Pádraig in yesterday. I thank Barbara and Alex, as we do every two weeks, for the work they do on our behalf.

The joint committee adjourned at 2.59 p.m. until 11 a.m. on Wednesday, 12 July 2023.