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‘T
ransmission of your Department’s
observations to the Commission
would not only be misleading
but would also cause confusion
in the public mind regarding sea lice controls
and possibly undermine the state’s regula-
tory system. For these reasons I would ask
you to withdraw the formal observations of
your Department and to support the obser-
vations supplied to the Commission by the
Department of Agriculture Fisheries and
Food [DAFF]’.
In a final flourish before leaving office,
Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly has opened
Pandora’s box. She has begun a prelimi-
nary investigation into how and why Simon
Coveney’s officials prevented a report
undermining the Government’s defence
of Irish salmon farms from reaching EU
investigators.
The EU ‘Pilot’ investigation sought the
“express views of the agency responsible for
game fisheries’” – Inland Fisheries Ireland
[IFI] – again and again through . Finally,
the Commission officials told Ireland that
if they did not receive the requested views,
they would have to consider making an appli-
cation to the European Court of justice for
infringement proceedings – the process that
can end in daily fines.
The Report was finally requested by DAFF
from IFI in September . Marked ‘”final”,
IFI’s Department – Communications, Energy
and Natural Resources [DCENR] provided it
in November .
Six pages long, the IFI Report tore apart
line by line the Irish Government’s position
on sea lice as presented by DAFF to the inves-
tigators. It said the government’s claim that
there was no evidence to link sea lice and
mortalities in wild salmon was “not consist-
ent with available information”. It said “The
current protocols do not constitute good sea
lice control”. And it concluded that “the
potential exists for sea lice transfer from
farmed salmon to outward migrating wild
salmon smoults in any estuary with a marine
salmon farm present”.
The fox had been in charge of the chicken
coop. But the file had been assigned only to
DAFF which had sole control of the informa-
tion going to the Commission. And plans to
apply to itself for licences and to franchise
nine mega-salmon farms along the west
coast – starting in Galway Bay - were now in
grave jeopardy.
So in June Coveney’s Department
told DCENR that “transmission of
your Department’s observations to the
Commission would not only be misleading
but would also cause confusion in the public
mind regarding sea lice controls and possibly
undermine the state’s regulatory system. For
these reasons I would ask you to withdraw
the formal observations of your Department
and to support the observations supplied to
the Commission by DAFF”.
As late as November , DCENR con-
tinued to “categorically and emphatically
disagree with DAFF position”, stating: “This
is their [IFI] valued and considered expert
advice, accepted by this Department”. They
wrapped up: “there appears to be no useful
purpose in continuing this debate in corre-
spondence as there clearly is a fundamental
differing of views on the salient issues…”
Less than a month later a single-page
anodyne memo devoid of criticisms and
written not by IFI but by DCENR officials was
provided to the Commission investigators,
leading to the closing of the case in .
Éamon Gilmore claimed on August
that proper procedures were followed
in assigning the EU investigation to one lead
agency only, writing: “On cross cutting issues
where more than one Department may be
concerned, one Department is assigned as
lead and it is its’ responsibility to liaise as
appropriate with other Departments”.
The Taoiseach’s office – which has
taken over from DAFF as contact for the EU
Commission – must have been unaware of
the Minister’s claim. Its EU Division stated on
September that “when a case might
be of interest to more than one Department
we would routinely assign the case to file
handlers in all such Departments”. Ironically,
they added “It is not the role of the contact
point to vet the responses from Departments
as Departments are responsible for and have
best knowledge of their own policy areas”.
Somebody should tell the Minister.
The Ombudsman is now consider-
ing whether to extend the investigation to
include DAFF and the Taoiseach’s office.
Minister Coveney and his partners in the
dream of what their report calls ‘our ocean
wealth’ - Bord Iascaigh Mhara and the Marine
Institute - continued to deny any wrongdo-
ing while the media stood back.
Their silence was broken by Fintan
O’Toole in an article entitled ‘If you can’t
win the scientific argument, suppress it’.
Coveney, a minister apparently almost totally
beholden to the interests of the agriculture
and fisheries interests (and the minister
for climate-change policy inertia), sup-
pressed. Will the Ombudsman let him away
with it?
Tony Lowes is Director of Friends of the Irish
Environment
Ombudsman may go fishing
in Foreign Affairs
Taoiseach and Tánaiste’s departments at odds
over Agriculture department’s suppression of
critical IFI report on infestation of salmon by
sea lice. By Tony Lowes
Don’t let
anything
put you
off your
salmon
sea-liCe ENVIRONMENT
