The purpose of the Fisheries (Commissions) Bill, 1997, is to validate the establishment of the Southern Regional Fisheries Commission and the appointment of Mr. Séamus Keating as member of the commission to validate the actions of the commission and to provide an indemnity to the members of such commissions against all and any actions or claims.
The House will recall that the Southern Regional Fisheries Commission was established, and had certain functions conferred on it, by an order signed by me on 21 February 1996 following debate and resolutions passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas. In summary the Attorney General has advised that the order in question is invalid because the necessary authority to sign it had not been conferred on me as Minister of State at the time. New legislation is needed to validate actions taken by that commission in exercise of functions purportedly conferred on it under that order.
I would like to recall for the House the circumstances which gave rise to the establishment of the commission. The Fisheries (Amendment) Act, 1995, provides that the Minister for the Marine may, by order, following a request from a fisheries board or after consideration by him of a report on the management, organisation and performance of a board, appoint a commission to carry out particular functions of that board. The legislation was enacted on foot of a review of the existing legislation governing intervention by the Minister in the affairs of a fisheries board where exceptional circumstances warranted. It was prompted by recurring allegations concerning the Southern Regional Fisheries Board.
As soon as the Fisheries (Amendment) Act, 1995, was enacted, I appointed Mr. Dermot Rochford, personnel consultant, to report to me under section 2 of that Act on the management and organisation of the Southern Regional Fisheries Board and the exercise by it of its functions in relation to its finances and staff. His report concluded that the affairs of the SRFB were not, nor in the foreseeable future likely to be, managed in an effective manner. He recommended that the Minister consider exercising his powers to establish a commission under section 3 of the 1995 Act while ensuring a working structure which would continue to harness the undoubted capabilities within the board itself.
I wrote to the Southern Regional Fisheries Board on 13 January 1996 giving notice under section 4 of the Act of my intention to make an order appointing a commission and conferring on it the management, conservation and protection functions of the board. The board would continue to be responsible for the development and improvement of fisheries; the encouragement, promotion and development of angling; the issuing of licences; fisheries rates and the preparation of development plans. The Southern Regional Fisheries Board responded positively to my proposal on 24 January 1996. In accordance with the Act, a draft order establishing the commission was laid before each House of the Oireachtas on 9 February 1996. On 21 February 1996 each House passed a resolution approving the draft order. I accordingly made the order on 21 February 1996, under section 3 of the 1995 Act, providing for the appointment of a commission for a period of one year from 23 February 1996 to take over the protection, conservation and management functions of the Southern Regional Fisheries Board. Mr. Séamus Keating was appointed as the sole commissioner with effect from 26 February 1996.
In causing a report to be prepared on the Southern Regional Fisheries Board, signing the order providing for the appointment of the commission and appointing Mr. Keating to the commission, I proceeded on the understanding that I was exercising powers conferred on me by the Fisheries (Amendment) Act, 1995, and the Marine (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) (No. 2) Order, 1995 (S.I. No. 199 of 1995). The latter order delegated certain specified functions of the Minister for the Marine to the Minister of State at the Department of the Marine. These functions included functions under the Fisheries Acts, 1959 to 1994, in so far as they relate to inland fisheries.
It was in the course of routine preparation of a draft order last December to extend the term of the commission that the Attorney General's Office discovered that the original order establishing the commission was invalid. It transpired that, because the Fisheries (Amendment) Act, 1995, under which the order was made, post-dated by several months the Marine (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) (No. 2) Order, 1995, the specific new powers conferred on the Minister under that Act had not been delegated to me. The Attorney General's Office advised the Department of a potential problem on 18 December last and at a meeting the following day.
Pending clarification of the legal situation, it was decided to proceed in any event with the laying of a draft order extending the term of the commission in the name of the Minister for the Marine. This was laid before the Oireachtas on 20 December 1996. Following definitive clarification of the problem after the Christmas break, in consultation with the Attorney General's Office, the Minister and I agreed on the need for immediate action to address the legal difficulty. The Attorney General advised that primary legislation was required to validate the appointment and the work of the commission since its establishment.
I regret that this situation has arisen, resulting in the need to introduce this legislation. I assure the House that I signed in good faith, and with the agreement of the Minister and the approval of both Houses, the order establishing the Southern Regional Fisheries Commission. I had at the time no reason to doubt that I had the necessary authority under the Fisheries (Amendment) Act, 1995, and under the Marine (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) (No. 2) Order made earlier in 1995 to make that statutory instrument. Indeed, we were all proceeding in good faith in the course of the debate of the order in this House last February.
Equally, the Southern Regional Fisheries Commission has subsequently acted in good faith in exercising the functions conferred on it, as has the Southern Regional Fisheries Board in co-operating and working with the commission. I will refer later to the constructive work carried out by the commission since its establishment in February 1996. It would clearly not be in the public interest, nor in the interest of the Southern Fisheries Region, nor in keeping with the intentions of the Oireachtas, if we were not to address the legal deficiencies which have now come to light.
The commissioner was informed of the legal deficiencies on 14 January last and the chairman of the Southern Regional Fisheries Board has been briefed on the situation. I understand he has briefed board members and staff. The legal situation, pending the enactment of this Bill, is that the Southern Regional Fisheries Board has all the functions of a regional board under the Fisheries Acts. The Bill is designed to enable the constructive and valuable work of the commission to date to be validated and preserved and will allow that work to be completed in the best interests of the Southern Regional Fisheries Board and Southern Fisheries Region.
In that context I advise the House that, since taking office, the commission has undertaken a review of fisheries protection and surveillance in the southern region and has, where necessary, formulated revised working procedures in this operational area. The commission has worked closely and constructively with the board which, under the purported order, retained responsibility for fisheries promotion, development and licensing and for fisheries rates. The commission is also reviewing management systems within the board and, in conjunction with the Central Fisheries Board, has undertaken a review of the board's finances and financial systems. I am satisfied, on the basis of regular reports to date from the commission, that it is in the interests of the efficient and effective management of the board for the commission to be allowed to complete the work it has begun.
The detailed provisions of the Bill are as follows. Section 1 governs the interpretation of terms used in the Bill. Section 2 provides for the validation of the order signed on 21 February 1996 which established, and conferred certain functions on, the Southern Regional Fisheries Commission and of actions taken in fulfilment of conditions precedent to the making of that order. Section 3 provides for the validation of all actions taken by the commission in the period since its establishment to the date, 14 January 1997, on which the commission was informed of the legal difficulties and the validation of the appointment of the sole member of the commission.
Section 4 subjects validations under sections 2 and 3 to the necessary constitutional provisions. Section 5 provides for the extension of the order which purported to establish the commission, and which is to be validated under section 2, to 20 February 1998 or to such earlier date as the Minister may specify. This will make the draft order laid on 20 December 1996 redundant.
Section 6 provides for the continuation in office of the existing member of the commission. Section 7 provides for the indemnification of members of the Southern Regional Fisheries Commission, and members of commissions which may be established in the future, against actions brought against them by virtue of their actions or omissions as members of commissions. Section 8 provides for the non-abatement of prosecutions brought prior to the enactment of this Bill by either the Southern Regional Fisheries Commission or the Southern Regional Fisheries Board. Section 9 gives the short title of the Bill, collective citation and construction.
I commend this Bill to the House. It will enable the commission to be put back on track and will allow for the substantive work already under way to continue and be completed as everyone intended.
