First, I welcome the Minister to the House to respond to this motion. Last year I put down a similar motion regarding the river Foyle. The reason I raise this matter this evening is to highlight the need for the Minister for the Marine to report progress on the Foyle Fisheries Commission and the problems of alleged pollution of the river Foyle.
I am alarmed that the report of the Foyle Fisheries Commission dated 1987 is the latest available. I do not know of any other industry or any other project in Ireland, or in Europe, that would publish a report for 1987 on an important industry and make it available on 28 June 1990. I suppose on 28 June 1991 one can expect the 1988 report. This is totally inadequate because there have been many changes since then. In fact, since the material was made available for the report by the Foyle Fisheries Commission the Minister for the Marine has changed, the Government have changed and members on the commission have changed. That is totally unacceptable to those interested in the future of the Foyle Fisheries.
The commission held a number of meetings which are detailed in this report: on 5-6 March 1987 in Derry, on 30 March and 6 May in Belfast, on 28-29 May and 6-7 July in Derry and on 8 October in Belfast; one meeting was held on 23 November 1987 in Dublin but no meeting was held in County Donegal. There are many people from my county and along the river Foyle, from Lifford to Moville, whose livelihood depend on their fishing activities on the river Foyle.
As far as our Government and Department of the Marine are concerned, there seems to be a lack of interest. I remember very clearly the Minister's response when I raised this matter previously. He indicated that he was satisfied that the civil servants in his Department had written a report which indicated that everything was cosy with the Foyle Fisheries Commission. I do not believe that report is worth anything. I have an interest in the river Finn and under the heading "Angling" the report states in relation to that river that, while not up to the standard of recent years, the spring run of salmon did yield significant catches. Although May was disappointing, catches reported in June were only marginally lower than those in 1986.
It is hard to believe that departmental officials would not report this unacceptable position to the Minister. It is appalling that there is no involvement from the South except by civil servants who met six times outside the State and once in Dublin. I ask the Minister to give me a response I can take to those involved in the fishing industry on the river Foyle and which will make sense and be acceptable to them.
I have a particular reason for raising this. The British and Irish Governments agreed on 21 October 1987 at a meeting of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference to initiate a study of the north-west region, County Donegal and the areas covered by the district councils of Derry city and Strabane. That was a very important study after long negotiations by three local authorities. The Taoiseach and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mr. Peter Brooke, launched the North-west study in County Donegal on Saturday, 7 July 1990. That study was carefully examined by many authorities in County Donegal. It was examined by the vocational committee, Teagasc, the Department of the Gaeltacht, the IDA, FÁS and all the public bodies stating they had a contribution to make on the north-west study launched by the Taoiseach and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The reason I mention this is, having carefully examined and made recommendations — seven joint recommendations, two specifically from Strabane Rural District Council, two from Derry City Council and two from Donegal County Council making a total of 13 recommendations arising from the north-west study — the first item on the list is a water quality management plan for Lough Foyle. How inconsistent. If the study was so important — and I believe it was and that it has been taken seriously because it was submitted for consideration to the Interreg Programme of the EC and for other funding programmes to support the development plan — I find it difficult to understand that on the same river the Foyle Fisheries Commission are allowed to manage by default and nothing else.
The serious aspect of this matter is that there are reports of pollution on the river Foyle which I mentioned on a previous occasion but which have not been proven. In fact, recently there was a scare about a national incinerator for waste being located on the Foyle at Maydown, County Derry. There has been widespread concern and many public meetings about the damage that would cause to the Foyle.
Another part of the problem is that there are a number of licensed fishermen who buy the licence at an increased fee every year. I have no quarrel with that but those families who pay for a licence, who go out to fish and expect to make a livelihood are confronted by a very large number of poachers. Some of the people who poach on the river Foyle believe it is the proper thing to do, that it is nationalistic and that they are striking a blow for the country. I could go on at length. The Minister knows right well that I have a very good case to make and a difficult one to answer and I ask him not to defend the people who are involved in the management of the Foyle Fisheries Commission.
I make one request and I intend to press it hard until I get results: will some of the people who are living in County Donegal on the banks of the Foyle who are involved in the fishing of the Foyle be involved in the management structure? I do not think that is an unreasonable request. If one considers the Industrial Credit Board and many other industries, I do not know of one single industry that have not got some of their people actively involved, participating in the management structure or the board of management or commission, or whatever you call it. It is time this matter was put on a proper footing and I am asking the Minister to bring this problem of the river Foyle to the attention of the Government. I live very close to the river Foyle, within one field of it and I can tell you that it is long past time we had proper management structures in place there.
Perhaps the people from the Department of the Marine who are acting on the Foyle Fisheries Commission are very highly qualified, perhaps they have degrees in research and they have studied fishing, pollution and mariculture and so on, but that is not acceptable to representatives of the industry looking at the problems on the ground. I will give the Minister the list of priorities which have been agreed. I will also give him copies of the programme as launched.
