I propose to take Questions Nos. 144 to 146, inclusive, together.
I am advised by the ESB that its fisheries conservation staff have not maintained any formal record of materials removed by them from the river Shannon as most of such removals are of general debris or small pieces of net used for illegal fishing and consequently of no value.
I am further advised by the ESB that no disposal orders were obtained directly by the board from the courts in the years referred to by the Deputy and that confiscated material is disposed of using the services of the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board. I am informed that all prosecutions taken on behalf of the ESB under the Fisheries Acts are also processed through the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board but that the ESB bears the costs of such prosecutions and disposals.
The Shannon Regional Fisheries Board has confirmed to my Department that it has over the years received seized nets for storage and disposal and that while the board has taken prosecutions for illegal fishing on behalf of the ESB in the past, no prosecutions have been taken in the last five years. It has not been possible in the time available for the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board to collate the specific information on disposals and prosecutions that the Deputy is seeking. I have, however, asked the CEO of the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board to liaise with the ESB in order to provide this information directly to the Deputy within the next two weeks.