The body responsible for protecting inland fisheries in Ireland is in turmoil after a series of resignations from its board has left it without a quorum to make critical decisions.
Five members of the Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) board have stepped down in the past eight months, including its chair, Prof Frances Lucy. The departures mean only three non-executive members remain in place, alongside a staff board member and chief executive Francis O’Donnell, who is an ex-officio member.
The three remaining board members – Michael McGreal, Fiona Walsh and Patrick Gibbons – are now unable to make a number of key decisions due insufficient numbers. Principally, the board is unable to instruct solicitors in relation to a serious dispute about alleged irregularities surrounding a staff appointment.
The body has been hit by a series of complaints and controversies over the past two years. It was discovered that 16 of its vehicles were uninsured and one was involved in a crash in Donegal in 2021.
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An IFI-owned property, Aasleagh House at Killary Fjord in Co Mayo, was leased informally to a staff member and was run as a guest house without the knowledge of the board. There was also a complaint that funding from dormant accounts was allocated to an angling club which did not have a bank account and which some claimed did not exist.
A number of new issues and complaints are also facing the body. One pertains to a dispute surrounding the dismissal of an employee last year. In addition, a protected disclosure has been made to the Department of the Environment alleging irregularities in the processes for an internal appointments competition. The department has initiated a formal investigation into that matter.
Marie Louise Heffernan, an ecological consultant, said she resigned due to ‘despair’ at what she regarded as the inaction over habitat protection during her 3½ years on the board
Separately, Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan last May appointed senior counsel Conleth Bradley to review the operations of the IFI board, to ascertain if it was carrying out its functions effectively, and to determine if there were grounds for removing members from it.
Mr Bradley concluded there was no such basis. However, he made a number of recommendations to improve governance including a review of the structural relationship between the board and chief executive and amending and adding standing orders.
Future direction
Some of the difficulties relate to divisions between the board on the one hand, and the staff on the other, in relation to the future direction of the organisation. The board has pressed for more emphasis on habitats and conservation rather than the more traditional roles of protection and fisheries management.
Prof Lucy, head of environmental science at the Atlantic Technological University, was appointed chair last summer but stood down in January. Another board member, Marie Louise Heffernan, resigned last October.
Ms Heffernan, an ecological consultant, said she resigned due to “despair” at what she regarded as the inaction over habitat protection during her 3½ years on the board. She said the organisation needed to change its focus to habitat enhancement for fish, and the staff needed training to do this. She said she realised changing was difficult but there was resistance to it.
“I did not want to be part of an organisation that was complicit in the decline of fish species in Ireland,” she said. “These are issues of national importance. I felt despair. We all felt the same on the board. We had no agenda other than fish.”
She said she had also resigned from the Green Party. “I looked for help from the Green Party who currently hold the fisheries portfolio. I absolutely felt disappointed with their inaction,” she said.
Ms Heffernan said the world and Ireland were in the throes of a biodiversity crisis. “We need to act. If you look at the decline of salmon. In 1980 there were 2.5 million salmon returning [from the oceans to the rivers] every year to Ireland. Now it’s only 250,000.”
The inland fisheries sector is left in disarray without any leadership at board level because of resignations. The Minister has too many things on his plate and has not paid sufficient attention
— Seán Canney, Galway West TD
She said there were about 2,000 barriers in rivers which prevented migration of native species of fish, yet the IFI was removing only single figures each year. “In 2020 the EPA said we have a decade to save nature. We are running out of time,” she added.
Fine Gael Senator Seán Kyne, a former minister of state in the fisheries area, has raised the matter regularly in the Seanad. He said recent events in IFI were of significant concern.
‘Immediate intervention’
“The department is carrying out an investigation into the complaint. We don’t know if it is an independent investigation. What needs to be done is the immediate intervention by the department. We need the appointment of interim board members, including some heavyweight and respected people.”
Galway West TD Seán Canney said there had been “upheaval, turmoil and a lot of allegations” in the IFI over the past year.
“The inland fisheries sector is left in disarray without any leadership at board level because of resignations,” he said. “The Minister has too many things on his plate and has not paid sufficient attention to it. I think what is needed is an independent person to go in and carry out a root-and-branch review of the IFI.”
A spokeswoman for Mr Ryan said he was reviewing the situation to ensure IFI could continue to discharge its functions. She said there was a public appointments process under way to replace the directors who had left last year and the Minister was considering options on foot of the most recent resignations.
