asked the Minister for Fisheries whether he is aware that French fishermen in trawlers and other smaller craft have for some weeks past been poaching for fish inside the three-mile limit, and close to shore along the Waterford, Cork and Kerry coasts, and if he will state what immediate action he intends taking against those foreign poachers.
WRITTEN ANSWERS. - POACHING BY FOREIGN TRAWLERS.
No information has been received that French fishermen in trawlers have been poaching inside the three-mile limit recently. Complaints have been received from a number of places of the infraction of territorial limits by Frenchmen who are fishing for crayfish. The one fishery cruiser at my disposal, when her annual overhaul is completed, which will probably be in the course of the present week, will be sent to all the localities where I have knowledge of such offences being committed, but the cruiser cannot be in more than one place at a time. The Gárda Síochána have rendered valuable assistance from time to time in bringing to justice such offenders, when they have come within their reach.