I take this opportunity to welcome the Minister of State to the House. I am grateful to the Cathaoirleach for allowing discussion on this matter on the final day of the term, as it were.
Angling tourism has been one of the largest contributors to the economy of County Leitrim over the last 25 years. Its annual worth nationally is estimated at £68 million, while the estimated income generated in the northwest region — Leitrim would perhaps be the strongest county in terms of coarse fishing — is around £11 million. This figure is based on a percentage of the bed nights in the northwest regional tourism area identified as being due to angling tourism, which stands at 17 per cent. These figures indicate how important this entire industry is to my part of the country.
Sixteen lakes, including Lough Allen, have been identified by the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board in their development plan 1994/98. All of these lakes are well stocked and attract coarse fishing visitors from all over Europe, who are united in their praise for the amount of fish caught but are equally vocal in their criticism of the lack of proper access. In order to address this major problem, the Lough Allen Angling Club, whose membership encompasses fishing enthusiasts from the immediate Lough Allen area, entered into discussions with the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board, Bord Fáilte, Leitrim County Council and local accommodation providers with a view to improving the access facilities at specific lakes in their area with the emphasis on Lough Allen, which is referred to locally and internationally as the jewel in the crown of the upper Shannon. The club met with a ready response from all of the various agencies and when the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board launched its development plan for 1994-98, 17 lakes including Lough Allen were included for funding under the angling tourism section of the EU operational programme for tourism.
The Fianna Fáil-Labour Government is to be commended for including angling tourism under measure three of Tourism 2000, the blueprint for the development of tourism over the five years of the operational programme. It was the first time that angling tourism was identified as a tourist niche market and I commend the current Government for continuing that policy. A total of £18 million has been allocated, £13 million of which comes from the European Regional Development Fund. It will be distributed through the Department of the Marine to the Central Fisheries Board and ultimately to the regional fisheries board, which will then dispense it under its development plan. However, I am concerned by reports that, 18 months into the operational programme, the only allocation of money has been to the Moy Fisheries Association and that even this sum has not been handed over. The Moy group are currently operating on an overdraft in anticipation of Government funding. I would be grateful for clarification in that regard. I only mention it in the context of the overall funding for the programme. Eighteen months into it, there seems to be a lack of movement.
In November of last year, representatives of the Lough Allen Angling Club, the Central Fisheries Board and the official responsible for co-ordinating the Department of the Marine's plans for the implementation of the angling tourism allocation met, at my request, with the Minister's predecessor. Deputy Andrews. Deputy Andrews and those present acknowledged the importance of providing proper access for coarse fishing visitors and agreed that Lough Allen should be given priority for development funding. It was agreed that three sections of Lough Allen should be provided with proper access roads, car parking and picnic facilities. Everybody at that meeting was left in no doubt as to the importance attached to the provision of EU funds for access if the Lough Alien and the upper Shannon lake district were to develop to a level where we could compete effectively with similar fishing stretches in Britain and other parts of Europe.
In order to impress upon the Minister's Department the wide level of support which this development plan has received locally and regionally, the Lough Allen angling club prepared a dossier of letters of endorsement of their plans, a copy of which has been in the Department since last February. The letters of support come from the following agencies: the ESB, Bord Fáilte, the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland, Carrick-on-Shannon Chamber of Commerce, the Arigna Leader Board, Drumshanbo Community Council, the Border Regional Authority comprising the counties of Cavan, Leitrim, Donegal, Louth, Monaghan and Sligo, Leitrim County Council and the elected representatives from the area. The angling club also sought the views of angling interests in Britain including the following who gave their support: Leisure Angling Complete Holidays of Liverpool, Countryman Angling and Games Supplies Limited of County Kildare which supplies the international game fishing market, Derby & Derbyshire Angling Association Limited, the Erne Anglers Club of Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Cliff Smart's Angling Holidays of Northampton, GP-Chasse Et Peche, a leading French travel agency specialising in coarse fishing trips to Ireland, Shamrock Irland Reisen of Hagen in Germany, Empire Angling Holidays of Cumbria in England, Ecole Francaise De Peche of France, UFEV Travel Agency of Lorraine, France, and Dream Angling Holidays of Wigan in the UK. There are also letters of support from the local tourist providers in the area and from the business community who rely on the earnings generated by angling tourism to maintain a viable business.
The message contained in all these letters of endorsement highlights the extreme difficulty anglers experience in gaining access to what is perhaps one of the finest coarse fishing lakes in Europe. The managing director of Countryman Angling states that he finds it hard to believe that it has taken so long for this development to take place. The secretary of the Derby Angling Association states that he would welcome facilities for disabled anglers on Lough Allen. This is a growth market. The secretary of the Erne Anglers Club in Enniskillen states that there can be no doubt that providing access in the form of roads, car parks and bank side paths will be of great benefit to anglers visiting the area.
The National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland, in its submission to the Central Fisheries Board on 30 January 1995, states that some fishery development in the past has been done on a haphazard basis with little regard for overall strategy, that fisheries should be able to produce for most of the year and that these waters could be used to create a major extension to the tourist season. Venues that give all year round sport, for example. Lake Muckno in Monaghan and Lough Gowna in Cavan, share one important virtue, that access is available to a range of shore lines with a variety of depths. The federation went on to state that it strongly supports any proposal to develop access to Lough Allen since it could also be an excellent all year round fishery.
Mr. Cliff Smart of Angling Holidays in Northampton, England states that there is a lack of access to that superb water, Lough Allen, and that Lough Allen has tremendous potential. He further states that development should take place as a matter of urgency. The two French agencies who sent visitors to County Leitrim over the last number of years state "the road conditions in your area are very poor and access to the lake shore of Lough Allen is very bad and might discourage some of our anglers to come fishing." The German company Shamrock state that the provision of access should be an immediate priority and "if the people in charge are not in the position to help we shall in future direct tourism to those areas that are more co-operative and of assistance to the people who bring money into the country."
Empire Angling Holidays of England state that more and more anglers are visiting Ireland which is putting more and more strain on the accessible but limited angling venues throughout Ireland and that all visiting anglers require are small tracks, hard standing or lay-bys with access to some good banks. Another French agency states they regret that nothing is done on Lough Allen and that they could certainly organise more fishing groups if Lough Allen was more accessible. Finally Dream Angling Holidays of Wigan in a letter dated 20 January 1995 to Mr. Ken Johnston, the former European projects manager at the Central Fisheries Board, states: "In our view Lough Allen is the sleeping giant of Leitrim and if awakened will ensure prosperity for those people in need of direction in the way of job opportunities."
In a survey carried out over a two year period by this company the overwhelming majority stated that more access points were needed, platform-stagings needed erecting, and more litter bins and better maps and directions were required. They added that most anglers were happy with the weights and the standard of fish caught in the Lough Allen area and they also stated that the town of Drumshanbo is a delight and that, in this little wedge of Ireland, the people are of good heart and health.
I hope that the foregoing will impress upon the Minister the urgency of implementing the development proposals contained in the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board document. I would like the Minister to clarify his Department's priorities in the implementation of the subprogramme on tourism angling and I refer him to the criteria under which this money should be expended. I refer to the Guide on the Operational Programme for Tourism 1994-99, page 11, measure 3, which states that work supported under the measure must attract additional foreign visitors, be readily available for tourist use and generate economic benefit and additional jobs. I believe the proposals contained as outlined more than fulfil these criteria. I readily acknowledge that there is a need to improve fish stocks in our lakes and rivers but County Leitrim does not have that problem.
The Minister should give serious consideration to the establishment of a national coarse fishing authority which will market Ireland as a coarse fishing destination internationally in much the same way as An Bord Bia promotes and markets our food industry. The Central Fisheries Board and regional boards cannot and will not carry out this important function under their present mandate and if we are to obtain value for the £18 million allocated to angling tourism, we need to put in place the proper structures to exploit this hidden jewel, Lough Allen, in our tourism industry.
