I move amendment No. 12:
In sub-section (1), to delete the words " Whenever the Minister is satisfied that there is not in a fishing weir a free gap constructed in accordance with Section 9 of the Salmon Fishery (Ireland) Act, 1863 " and substitute the following words :—"Whenever, notwithstanding any decision made by the Special Commissioners under the provisions of the Salmon Fishery (Ireland) Act, 1863, or any court of competent jurisdiction prior to the passing of this Act, the Minister is satisfied that there is not in a fishing weir a gap constructed or being maintained in accordance with Section 9 of that Act as hereinafter provided."
I have got here some maps in connection with this particular question, and perhaps the Minister would like one, as it is a rather important point. The proposal in those two amendments we have got down here, in which Senator Sir John Keane is also interested, isto delete the first two and a half lines of Section 29, and substitute those two amendments. The first amendment changes the wording, and the second one, number 13, is explanatory. This is a case which interests all of us in that quarter of the South. The maps first of all show the weir, and secondly, what was called the Queen's Gap in the old days, and is now just called the Gap. Below the Lismore weir, with its Killing Hatch, there are some 20 miles of water, and here and in the estuary of the Blackwater some 140 nets operate. At one time they took 140 or more tons of fish. Above the weir—and that is the angle the people are mostly concerned with—there are about 60 miles of fishable water, with some 70 major owners, and a lot of smaller proprietors. There are over 100 miles of major spawning rivers. Between the two, there is this weir, which is 1,500 feet long, and built of concrete masonry; that is to say in the old Abbey times it was loose stone with the water running through the stones, and then it was concreted to make the water hold up a good deal more. From the map, Senators will see that there are five barred openings in it, at B, C, D, E, and F. Those allow the water to go down, but they prevent the fish going up. There are two others. At A, there is this famous or rather the infamous Killing Hatch, and at the word " Gap " is the Queen's Gap. The Act of 1863 was brought in by the British Authorities at that time to cover the frightful scandal of many weirs in this country where there was no permanent way for the fish going up the river. It was ordered in that Act that in every weir a gap should be constructed; that the gap should be at the deepest part of the river, with its bottom parallel to the direction of the stream at the weir; and finally, that the bottom should be level on both sides with the natural bed of the river. In other words, it was to be at the point where the fish could most easily pass this particular obstruction to the upper waters. It was intended to ensure that the riparian owners would get a fair share of the fish which went up the river, and finally that sufficient fish would be allowed up to spawn each year.
As a result of this legislation in 1863—I think it was in the following year—the then Duke of Devonshire constructed the Queen's Gap. Then he sent for some commissioners, who came down and examined the weir. Notwithstanding the fact that none of the three conditions which the Act laid down was fulfilled, those three commissioners certified the gap as being legal. Not only, as you will see, is the gap at right angles to the stream, but it is not in the deepest part of the river ; and, finally, you will see from this section shown on the map that the lower part of the thing is 18 feet below the natural bed of the river as it was. That is due to the continual boil of the water which is always driving down. That boil has been increased at different times by allowing F and E to silt up. The result of those two silting up is that a bigger body of water rushes down through this gap, and never in the memory of man has stream fish been known to go up this place. The conservators on many occasions have made orders with a view to easing this rush of water. The fish come up through the channel where the net is shown, and, when they feel the heavy rush of water at the Gap, with the deep hole to get out of, they drop back. They cruise along from D and E to F, sometimes for days, trying to get up. If they cannot get up there, they drop back. Some of them are caught in the net. They nose around C, find C and D barred, and finally go up to the Killing Hatch. It is obvious, really, that the right place for this gap is at C. The conservators have made continuous efforts to rectify this state of affairs and they have always been blocked. As a result, the angling in the river has gone from bad to worse. There was a time when things improved, and that was when a syndicate of rod fishermen, operating from Carysville, which is about seven miles higher up, rented this Killing Hatch from the Duke. They paid £850 a year for it, for the three months February, March and April. During those years, which ended in 1935, the fishermen above the weir got a reasonableamount of fish, and a considerable amount of fish went up to spawn. In fact, the average at the Banteer spawning weir was 350 fish over a ten-years period.
In 1935, to my definite knowledge, because I have actually seen the correspondence, the Lismore Estate Company decided to work the hatch themselves to its utmost capacity, so as to obtain from the Government the greatest compensation they possibly could under this nationalisation of several fisheries which is contained in this Bill. They saw it coming, so they wrote to the Carysville people and said: " Very sorry but we are not going to let you this any more, because we know that if we operate this weir properly it is value for four times £850 per annum." They refused to let it any longer. Since then the number of fish which has reached the upper waters has been very small indeed. One fishery has dropped from 400 to 227, and two others, which were formerly rented by visitors at £1,000 a year, dropped from 100 to 17 this year. The Banteer Trap, which happens to be property owned by a cousin of mine, has dropped this year to 54. That Banteer Trap is used by the conservators purely for propagation purposes, and there the number has dropped from 350 to that figure of 54. Representations without number have been made to the Department, but nothing has really come of it. Finally there was a resolution from the board of conservators—Senator O'Callaghan I think intended to put down an amendment in those terms—urging that something should be done under this particular Bill. If the Minister's intention as he expressed it during the Second Reading is to improve the angling in this country, I think that he should amend this section. He has left it so that he can go on fishing this weir for the benefit of the State—for the benefit of the Minister for Finance. Even if he does not over-fish it, which I do not think he will, but if he fishes it to the capacity to which the Lismore Estate is doing it, it will be found that net men in the tidal waters and the estuary will suffer very severely ; that a great many angling ghillies will have to seek other employment; that there will eventually be a very considerable loss to the general income of the country, and that the Lismore Estate will make an extremely good case for a great deal more compensation than they really deserve for an illegality which has been going on for 80 years.
My amendment—I am sorry I did not draft it differently—does no more than to make it permissive to the Minister to take no account of the findings of these three commissioners. I personally should have liked to put in " shall," but I drafted it rather poorly. I trust that in the interests of the people in this district and the visitors who come to us something will be done to restore this river to the situation in which it was before this iniquitous decision of the Lismore Estate Company was permitted.
