Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) officials will be questioned on the agency’s 2021 accounts at the Oireachtas Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) on Thursday (July 6).
Members of the Oireachtas committee will be joined by officials from the Comptroller and Auditor General, Seamus McCarthy, and representatives from IFI led by chief executive Francis O’Donnell.
Officials from the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications will also be in attendance.
PAC Cathaoirleach Brian Stanley said: “Inland Fisheries Ireland is the state agency responsible for fisheries management of freshwater fish and coastal fish within 12 nautical miles of the shore”.
“The Board of IFI consists of 10 members – the chairperson, seven non-executive members, an elected employee, and the CEO, as an ex-officio member. There were three resignations from the board in 2022 and two in January 2023,” Stanley said.
“Under the Inland Fisheries Act 2010, the Minister for the Environment, Climate & Communications removed the remaining members of the Board on a “no fault” basis in February 2023 and appointed two persons to perform the functions of IFI Board for a period of up to six months, pending the reconstitution of the board,” he said.
“IFI made an overall deficit for 2021 of over €5m compared to a surplus of €3.4m in 2020. In 2021 its income amounted to nearly €32m, a decrease of nearly €5.1m, which was predominately due to the reduction of €5.8m in funding it received from the Department of the Environment, Climate & Communication when compared to 2020,” Stanley noted.
“The majority of IFI’s grant funding (€24.4m) is derived from the Inland Fisheries of Vote 29 – Environment, Climate & Communications. Its other source of income amounted to €4.3m in 2021, generated from various strands of its business, such as contract work, licence and permit income, and Salmon Conservation Funding,” he said.
“Its expenditure for the same period increased to €36.8m in 2021. The main element of this €2.9m increase is related to ‘staff costs’ for both its administrative and operations functions,” he continued.
“Areas of interest for the Committee raised in the 2021 IFI financial statements include internal issues between the board and executive, the governance of dormant accounts funding and the refund by IFI of €30,000, the management of Aasleagh Lodge and Cottages in Co Galway, the ongoing investigation by An Garda Síochána into matters uncovered at IFI, the Senior Counsel review of IFI Board, issues around uninsured vehicles and fleet management, the use of agency staff and legal cost,” Stanley said.
“The committee looks forward to examining these and related matters with Mr O’Donnell and his colleagues,” he said.
The PAC is a standing committee of Dáil Éireann which focuses on ensuring public services are run efficiently and achieve value for money.
The meeting in Committee Room 3 can be viewed live on Oireachtas TV.
Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.
