§ 63. Lord STANLEYasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether be is aware of the great discontent prevalent in the British trawler-fishing industry arising out of the restrictions imposed on British trawlers fishing in Irish waters outside of the three-mile limit which are not imposed op foreign trawlers; and whether he will make representations to the Irish Free State Government that this inequality should be removed?
Mr. THOMASAs the reply is long, I propose, with the Noble Lord's permission, to circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT
§ Following is the reply:
§ The restrictions to which the Noble Lord refers are enforceable under Bye-laws made by the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland in the days before the control of that body had been transferred to the Government of the Irish Free State. After the establishment of the Free State His Majesty's Government took legal advice on the constitutional question whether the Fishery Acts and the Bye-laws made there under before December, 1922, are continued in force in the Irish Free State with the same extra territorial effect as before the establishment of the Free State. The advice received by His Majesty's Government was to the effect that the Acts and Bye-laws in question remain as part of the law of the Irish Free State, but that no further Bye-laws can be made with extra territorial effect by the Government of that Dominion. The Free State Government were informed in September last of the nature of the advice tendered to His Majesty's Government, and were asked whether they concurred in it. Their reply, received 10 days ago, states that they see no reason to dissent from the views held by His Majesty's Government, and that they are accordingly taking steps to prosecute offenders against the Bye-laws. The restrictions at present imposed upon British fishermen are therefore identical with those which were enforced when the British Government was directly responsible for Irish fishing administration, and the position of foreign trawlers is similarly unchanged. I am aware of no grounds on which His Majesty's Government would be justified in asking the Government of the Irish Free State to refrain from exercising its rights in the protection of the native fishing industry.