Inland and Marine Fisheries: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-04 ============================================================ Seán Kyne (FG), Cultural and Educational Panel The Minister of State is very welcome. I thank him for agreeing to come in to discuss the marine and inland fishing sector. I will not dwell too long on the marine sector because my colleagues have covered that very well. Regarding the scientific advice of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, that is, of course, something that we have to abide by and agree on. However, that only works is everybody abides by it and there is no illegal fishing by third countries and no illegal fishing of our valuable mackerel stocks. That is my concern in relation to all of this. How do we know who is abiding by the rules and who is not? How do we know whether other countries and boats are abiding by the rules in our waters? That is the concern. I welcome the indication of the Hague preferences and the legal advice or opinion that has been sought on that. In relation to the Presidency of the EU, does the Minister of State intend to raise the issue of the Common Fisheries Policy? It is often cited that when we joined the European Union we lost the sovereignty of our seas. Is there a need for a reset or at least the opening of a discussion on that matter? I turn to Inland Fisheries Ireland. Part of the programme for Government is the independent review. I welcome that the Minister of State will look at and start that once the new chief executive officer of Inland Fisheries Ireland has been appointed. I have a question on another commitment in the programme for Government regarding the protection and recognition of the great western lakes as salmonoid waters. When will the Minister of State have plans to pursue that? I go back to scientific advice. The allowable catch in our inland fisheries is based on scientific advice from within the Department and I acknowledge that. However, there are the Clare river by-laws that propose to put in bag limits for trout because of pressure on the numbers. Of course, there are pressures on the numbers of trout when you have large pike eating all before them at the mouth of the Clare river. When I was in the Minister of State's position I fought valiantly for a by-law that was signed by my successors Richard Bruton and Seán Canney. It became law, albeit for a brief period before being challenged in the courts and falling. It relates to removing the limit on the size of pike that can be removed from the western lakes. Basically, you can remove smaller pike, but you cannot remove a pike longer than 85 cm, which are the larger pike and the hens that are going to lay all the eggs. In response to a parliamentary question last year, the Minister stated he is carrying out a review of by-laws 806 and 809 of 2006. These relate to protection of pike. Those were put in place in response to fishing of large pike and taking them out of the country in big freezers to Germany and elsewhere. That came in at that time for a specific issue. Now you have a situation where those same large pike are being protected. They are the ones causing the predation and reducing the allowable catch, which means the Minister of State possibly has to go out to defend bringing in by-laws for reduced catches of trout. This is the contradiction. I understand the review is being carried out of fisheries by-laws in force for ten years or more and their continued application, in particular how the EU fisheries directive is or is not being applied in the case of pike. Those are some of the key points. The Minister of State knows as a former Member of this House that I have raised particular issues on inland fisheries. I will not go there. There have been some results on that, and I hope that the scrutiny the Committee of Public Accounts is now giving to the Comptroller and Auditor General's reports on Inland Fisheries Ireland will have positive impacts. Nothing I did was a witch hunt. It related to good governance of a State agency and State organisation. I hope the ongoing scrutiny by the Committee of Public Accounts and the review the Minister of State will be enacting as a commitment in the programme for Government will bear fruit. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-04/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:35+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-04