Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney considers the work on the salmon escape is not finished. (Photo: Simon Coveney)
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Wednesday, September 03, 2014, 01:00 (GMT + 9)
West Cork-based environmental group has threatened to sue the Information Commissioner in an attempt to obtain a report on salmon escape that took place last February.
Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) announced it will take High Court action if the fish farm does not release a report on the escape of 230,000 salmon specimens after the storm that contributed for a cage break to get loose from its mooring and upend itself into another cage at Gerahies in Bantry Bay, West Cork Times informed.
On the other hand, the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney refused to release the report on escape on the grounds that the work is not completed and that “the public interest would not be served by the disclosure of the report.”
FIE Director Tony Lowes stressed that the recently released 2013 Annual Report of the Commission, which has recently been published, showed that there had been no improvement in the long delays the group has experienced with its appeals.
“74 per cent of the cases were not addressed within the legislative period of four months with more than 33 per cent of the cases still awaiting a decision for more than a year. In his report, even the new IC called these ‘unacceptable delays’,” Lowes pointed out.
Lowes explained the matter was especially urgent as a previous report of a 2010 disaster in Clew Bay released to the group had shown that the Department was at fault for not requiring the necessary inspections of the equipment.
“We believe the Bantry Bay report will show that in spite of the 2010 recommendations, nothing has been done to ensure that these installations are inspected to ensure their viability. That is the reason the Minister is refusing to release the report,” Lowes stated.
“These cages have been restocked in spite of the minister’s claim that the accident report has not been completed. Given the increasing severity and frequency of storm events due to climate change, it is vital that we see this report before the storms recur,” he concluded.
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