NORTHERN IRELAND (FOYLE FISHERIES) BILL (Hansard, 29 January 1952)

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (LORD SIMONDS)

My Lords, the Bill to which I now invite your Lordships to give a Second Reading is, I think, as non-controversial as a Bill could be. As its Title indicates, it is an enabling Bill. It is a Bill to enable the Parliament of Northern Ireland to legislate with respect to fisheries in the Foyle Area. As your Lordships are aware, the Government of Northern Ireland are in some measure restricted in their legislative power, and I think your Lordships may assume that it would not be competent for the Government of Northern Ireland to legislate in the manner in which they wish in regard to these fisheries unless this enabling Act were passed.

I can state the circumstances very shortly. As your Lordships are no doubt aware, Lough Foyle and the River Foyle divide the counties of Londonderry and Donegal, and, accordingly, they divide the territory which is subject to the jurisdiction of the Government of Northern Ireland and that which is subject to the jurisdiction of the Republic of Ireland. In Lough Foyle and the River Foyle there are extremely valuable salmon fisheries, which have been the subject of continual depredation by poachers, until it is seriously apprehended that to a great extent their value will be taken away. Accordingly, by a very happy conjunction—and I think your Lordships will appreciate what a happy conjunction it is—the Government of Northern Ireland and the Government of the Republic of Ireland have come to an agreement.

They have come to an agreement in a manner which will require legislation by both Governments. So far as Eire is concerned, the Government of the Republic are competent to pass what legislation they think fit, but the legislation which 898 is required from the Government of Northern Ireland requires this enabling Bill. The legislation which is contemplated appears in the Bill which your Lordships have before you and I shall refer to it briefly. The first clause provides that: Notwithstanding any restriction on the powers of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, that Parliament may legislate with respect to fisheries in the Foyle Area (of which part is in Northern Ireland and part in the Republic of Ireland), and may in particular— (a) authorise the acquisition of the fisheries in the tidal portions of the Lough and River Foyle and of its tributary the River Faughan by the Ministry of Commerce for Northern Ireland and the Minister for Agriculture for the Republic of Ireland acting jointly: … The first step between these two Governments will be to acquire jointly the fisheries in the tidal water. They will acquire these fisheries from a corporation now known as the Irish Society, and sometimes called The Honourable Irish Society. This corporation was given its charter by James I, in 1610, under the title of The Society of Governors and Assistants of London in the Plantation of Ulster in the Realm of Ireland. It has had many vicissitudes, including the revocation and restoration more than once of its charter and the sequestration and restoration of its property on more than one occasion. It is from that Society that the two Governments have agreed to purchase the fisheries in these waters. The Governments having purchased the fisheries, it will be necessary to set up a joint Commission for their management, control and administration. Accordingly, the second paragraph of Clause 1 provides for the establishment of a Foyle Fisheries Commission having the functions of managing the fisheries so acquired and of conserving, protecting and improving the fisheries. … It provides also for members of the Commission to be appointed by the Ministry in Northern Ireland and the Minister in the Republic of Ireland.

It then becomes necessary to frame penal provisions in regard to the fisheries, so as to make it an offence for a person resident in Northern Ireland to do anything in the part of the Foyle Area outside Northern Ireland which would be an offence if done in the part of Northern Ireland. As your Lordships will appreciate, it is an easy matter for a resident in Donegal to slip across the 899 boundary of the tidal water to do his poaching in the area which falls within the county of Londonderry, and then slip back. As the matter now stands, he has committed no offence within the law which authorises the Government of Northern Ireland to prosecute him and he is not amenable to jurisdiction in Londonderry. Paragraph (d) of the same clause is also necessary. It authorises the apprehension and delivery to a member of the police forces of the Republic of Ireland of a person found offending in the Foyle Area against any law of the Republic of Ireland corresponding to a law of the Parliament of Northern Ireland passed by virtue of this Act, or corresponding to any other law relating to fisheries which has effect in Northern Ireland, where there is reason to believe that that person is resident in the Republic of Ireland; Power will be taken to hand over to the authorities in the place where he resides, any poacher in the Foyle Area. All such legislation will depend on exactly corresponding legislation being passed by the Government of the Republic of Ireland. Again, I think I may remark that it is an extraordinary happy conjunction to find these two Governments agreeing, both in principle and in detail.

The second clause of the Bill allows the Government of Northern Ireland to exempt the Foyle Fisheries Commission from income tax. That is not a matter which really affects the revenues of this country in any way, but the provision is a necessary one. I need not refer to the third clause of the Bill, which merely defines "the Foyle Area," or to Clause 4, which is the Title. Those in short are the facts. This is, I believe, an entirely non-controversial matter, and I hope that the Bill will commend itself to your Lordships. I beg to move that it be now read a second time.