Happy St. Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, it is not exactly an issue relevant to St. Valentine's that I have to report. Nonetheless, he has gone and done it. He has dismissed the board of Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has completed the work of the Department and the chief executive officer from last spring, targeting the board and finally getting rid of it. There will be celebrations in IFI headquarters in City West today, and in the Department headquarters in Adelaide Road. The house, it seems, always wins. The victims are the ordinary board members, vilified by the decision, despite being cleared by the very investigation by Conleth Bradley SC arranged under section 18 of the Inland Fisheries Act 2010. However, the Minister was not so interested in section 19 of the Act, and failed to appoint new members to the board following three resignations in 2022 and a further two in January this year. Why did the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Department run the board down? It seems to have been a deliberate move by the Department, with a Minister oblivious to the goings on. There is an internal Department investigation by solicitors McCann Fitzgerald into complaints made by me and others against the chief executive officer of Inland Fisheries Ireland. What are its terms of reference? Who will they interview? Why is it an internal investigation only? The latest in the long-running saga includes the failure of the board to sign off on IFI accounts for 2022, for which the Comptroller and Auditor General is looking. This is not surprising considering there is no Chair, and only three ordinary members left to do so.

There is a difference of agreement on allegations of financial concerns and, indeed, on a 60 page late-evening amendment to the statement of internal control, to cover up all the allegations being made under the protected disclosures, so the Minister sacks the board. Capital spending that was not sanctioned by the board twice late last year of over €140,000 was for work that is now proceeding. The money has been spent, despite a requirement that the board would have to sanction anything over €50,000, so the Minister sacks the board.

Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI, is being run as a fiefdom by the chief executive officer. The board was hamstrung by the failure of the Minister, Deputy Ryan, to replace members who had resigned. Consequently, there is no oversight of the chief executive officer. Minutes were not signed off on, where the legal strategy was agreed by the then board. I hope these minutes survive the shredder of Inland Fisheries Ireland over the coming days. It will be interesting to see what they show, what was agreed and what is going to happen, and that the CEO was going to be suspended. Instead, the interim chair resigned, with a glowing tribute from the CEO. IFI, injustice fraud and incompetence-----

Senator, be careful in relation to-----

I feel-----

I know the Senator is making statements in the public interest but he has to balance that against allegations that could be used against-----

Absolutely. The CEO had a statement out very quickly today after the board was sacked. He was delighted with himself. I feel for the hundreds of decent IFI employees with no leadership from the CEO, the Department or the Minister. There is no direction from anyone.

I believe the Minister, Deputy Ryan, is a decent man but in this, he is totally misguided, and wrongly advised on purpose by his Department, and is standing over the targeting of an employee by the CEO. There is an absolute need for an independent investigation into Inland Fisheries Ireland, its organisation, CEO, and the advices given by the Department. Instead, the very Department is organising an internal investigation.

The whole saga is not distinguished; it is disgusting. It is rotten, corrupt and, in fact, it is worthy of-----

Senator, just-----

-----a film.

I know Members are all aware of the new Standing Orders which were brought in in the past number of years in respect of balancing the rights of individuals and the public interest. I want to ensure everybody is aware of that and that when making statements in the Seanad in the public interest, they must balance that in respect of individual rights and any legal action that might be forthcoming.

I call on Senator O'Loughlin.