§ MR. DONAL SULLIVAN (for Mr. PINKERTON,) GalwayI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that about two months ago an order was made by the Fishery Board excluding steam trawlers from the outer bay, and prohibiting them from coming within a line drawn from Hag's Head, on the Clare coast, to Eeragh Island Lighthouse, off Arran, and continued from the lighthouse to Golam Head Tower, on the Connemara coast, and why that order has not been enforced; and if he would explain why the trawlers were expelled a few weeks ago, and why were they re-admitted?
§ MR. JACKSONIt is the case that the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries made a bye-law on the 14th December, 1891, prohibiting steam-trawling in Galway Bay inside the limits indicated in the question. Certain further steps were then necessary on the part of the Inspectors, who ultimately submitted the bye-law on the 22nd ultimo for the approval of the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council. The enforcement of the bye-law awaits their decision.
§ MR. A. WEBB () (for Mr. PINKERTON,) GalwayI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if his attention has been directed to the resolutions passed at a public meeting in Claddagh (Galway), on the 21st instant, in which they complain of the poverty to which the Claddagh fishermen have been reduced owing to the permission of trawling in Galway Bay, and call upon the Fishery Board to fix limits for trawling, also recommend the appointment by the Congested Districts Board of a fishery school in Galway for the promotion of deep-sea fishing on the west coast; and whether the Government have any intention of taking action to see that something is done to relieve the present distress of those fishermen, and prevent, if possible, its further recurrence?
§ MR. JACKSONThe hon. Member was good enough to send a newspaper containing copies of the resolutions referred to. The Inspectors of Fisheries propose, as I have just stated in reply to the previous question, to prohibit steam trawling within certain limits in Galway Bay. But they do not, as at present advised, see reason to prohibit trawling from sailing vessels. As regards the particular case of the Claddagh fishermen, I would remind the hon. Member that in 1885, on the representation of the then Lord Lieutenant (Lord Carnarvon), the Government arranged with the Admiralty for the use of a cutter, to be employed in the instruction in fishing of the men of the Royal Naval Reserve of Claddagh, the Treasury sanctioning an expenditure of £150 to meet the cost of the requisite gear and instruction. This well-intentioned project, however, fell through, as the men declined to avail themselves of it unless 40 they were granted a sum of money in addition to the practical benefits they would have derived—a demand which could not be complied with.