#DLHarbour - Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company’s chief executive is seeking over €350,000 in backdated bonuses from the company, as Jack Horgan-Jones writes in yesterday’s Sunday Business Post.

Gerry Dunne lodged High Court proceedings against his employer in September last year, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

But it has only emerged now that Dunne, who took over as CEO of the beleaguered port company in 2009, will argue for the payment of bonuses stipulated by his contract.

Such payments have been withheld under current Government policy not to pay performance-related top-ups to the executives of State or semi-State companies.

Dunne spearheaded the ‘masterplan’ for the regeneration of Dun Laoghaire Harbour in 2011. However, the South Dublin port subsequently lost its anchor ferry link to Holyhead.

Few of the masterplan’s proposals have come to fruition in the six years since its launch, though plans to accommodate large scale cruise liners, previously subject to restrictions and much controversy, are now back on the agenda.

#Angling - Legal actions against poaching and other illegal angling and fisheries activity have hit a stumbling block after it was found that Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) does not have “explicit power to prosecute offences”.

The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment has called a halt to any summonses currently before the courts until necessary amendments to the Fisheries Acts are enacted.

IFI says it is considering whether fresh summonses can be issued at a later stage when the amendments are in place. In the meantime, any alleged offenders remain liable to prosecution.

#SuttonDC - A former sailing instructor has settled her case against Sutton Dinghy Club over an incident in which she lost a finger.

As The Irish Times reports, representatives for Hannah Fitzsimons alleged that she had been "required to carry out an unsafe activity and was caused or permitted use a dangerous or unsafe method for towing boats in difficulty".

The claim stemmed from the incident on 11 August 2011 in which her left ring finger was amputated while she was towing a dinghy by hand in waters adjacent to the clubhouse.

An accomplished musician, the Sutton woman said the accident had forced her to give up on plans to be a music teacher and rendered her unable to play the flute or the piano.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

#Angling - An angler has narrowly avoided jail for assaulting two fisheries officers and fishing without a permit on the River Moy near Foxford in Co Mayo.

Nick McKeown of Foxford was prosecuted by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) at a sitting of Ballina District Court on 9 December 2013. McKeown failed to attend the hearing but was represented by his solicitor, Charlie Gilmartin.

Judge Kevin Kilrane proceeded in McKeown’s absence and, after hearing the evidence from fisheries officers Geoffrey Thornton, Eddie Doherty and assistant inspector Pat Armstrong, convicted him of fishing without a permit on four separate dates and assault on two fishery officers in 2011.

Gilmartin explained his client’s actions by indicating that there had been some confusion as to the ownership of fishing rights on Cloongee Fishery on the River Moy, where the incidents took place.

Solicitor Henry Hewson, acting for IFI, presented an Order from Castlebar Circuit Court confirming that IFI held title to the fishing rights on that section of the River Moy since its purchase by the former North Western Regional Fisheries Board in 2004.

The judge heard evidence that McKeown was also found fishing at Clongee without a permit on a number of dates after the Circuit Court ruling in 2012.

Judge Kilrane reportedly took a dim view of the defendant’s actions and felt that a fine might not be appropriate in this case.

A warrant was issued for McKeown’s arrest so that he could be brought before the court for sentencing. However, McKeown arrived at the court late and the judge agreed to sit again in order to deal with the matter.

Judge Kilrane indicated that he would not impose a prison sentence if McKeown gave a written undertaking to the court that he would not fish illegally in future.

The judge adjourned sentencing to 8 December 2014 with liberty for IFI to re-enter if there is a breach of the undertaking signed.