Last year, Environment Minister Eamon Ryan stood down the remaining three board members of the body. 

The other members had already resigned. 

An Garda Síochána began a fraud investigation into IFI after being contacted by the chief executive. A senior counsel was appointed to review its operation. 

A number of serious issues relating to internal controls were shown to be uncontrolled. 

And now, as the Irish Examiner reveals today, one fall-out from the internal chaos has been that 55 prosecutions due to be taken against polluters and others have had to be abandoned.

The inability to prosecute polluters is deadly serious. 

The intensification of industry as the economy has powered ahead, allied to historical problems over water treatment, has meant pollution and fish kills have been frequent occurrences. 

The most recent figures for fish kills from IFI show there were 25 reported incidents in 2022, accounting for about 10,300 fish.

The 2022 annual report, which was published last week, over a year late, makes reference to issues over prosecutions. 

Prosecutions withdrawn

It notes that in October 2023, “having regard to legal advice obtained in relation to a technical issue relating to authorisations to prosecute, a number of prosecution cases initiated by IFI were withdrawn”.

The problems over prosecutions were discovered in March 2023 and were resolved in June of that year. 

Why it took another five months before the legal advice was obtained and a decision made to withdraw cases is not explained. 

Neither is there any explanation as to what the “technical” issue was and how it arose. An inquiry asking for details was ignored in a response from the IFI. 

All the body would say was to confirm that the issue arose. 

“A total of 55 cases nationwide have been impacted. The majority of these were due to be heard and finalised between April 2023 and June 2023. 

A small number of cases remain to come before the courts, and are scheduled for finalisation soon.

A question immediately arises over the cases that have been “finalised”. 

If, as is likely, any or most of these ended in a successful prosecution, then there may well be a financial liability if the convicted entities seek redress in terms of the convictions. 

If the IFI was not authorised to prosecute, then the prosecutions would probably be invalid.

The spokesperson for IFI did address any possible costs. 

“An assessment of costs incurred by IFI in relation to this matter won’t be determined until all cases are concluded in full, and when there is an outcome decided by the courts regarding all prosecutions.” 

West Cork case

The most recent affected case, which arose last week in West Cork, illustrates the seriousness of the issue. 

The company West Cork Distillers was prosecuted by IFI over a fish kill in the River Ilen in July 2021, which left 2,000 fish, including salmon and sea trout, dead. 

Two years ago, the company pleaded guilty to three offences relating to the discharge of liquids into the river. 

The company denied this was the cause of the fish kill.

At that court, Judge James McNulty ordered the company to “make amends” by donating €1,000 to each of 26 Tidy Towns groups in the area. 

He imposed a conditional discharge for two years. 

When the case arose again last week, the IFI said it could not proceed with the prosecution due to “difficulties” within the organisation. 

Apart from anything else, the outcome has ensured there is no legally definitive conclusion as to whether the discharge of the liquids was responsible for the pollution. 

Other instances of fish kills in recent years may now be revisited. 

In many of these, financial compensation was awarded or offered by the defendants, but in most, a criminal conviction, which would go towards the defendants' environmental record, was also recorded. 

How these will now be dealt with remains to be seen.

The failure to proceed with prosecutions is the most serious but far from the only controversy that has dogged IFI in recent years. 

Protected disclosures

Up to 10 protected disclosures about management and corporate governance at the body were made in recent years. 

Most of these are understood to have originated from staff members or people working closely with the fisheries body. 

As a result, Mr Ryan appointed senior counsel Conleth Bradley to conduct a review of its board and governance.

Separate to Mr Bradley’s review, five board members, including two former chairpersons, stood down of their own accord. 

In February 2023, Mr Ryan announced he was standing down the remaining three non-executive board members. 

Two former county managers were installed to perform the board’s function. 

Politicians from across the Dáil were critical of the move to disband the board but the minister said following advice, it was determined to be the best way to move forward.

A new board was fully constituted last January. The body has reported the recommendations from Mr Bradley’s review have all been undertaken or are in the process of being actioned.

In the IFI’s 2022 annual report, a litany of “internal control issues” that gave rise to the controversies were listed. These included: 

• An investigation by An Garda Síochána into potential fraud;
• A change of “base” for the CEO which then reverted to IFI’s headquarters in west Dublin. The outcome of this was “the CEO has repaid subsistence of €1,041.08 to reflect base at Citywest”;
• The use of dormant account funds;
• Protection crews “not discharging their duties”;
• Uninsured vehicles;
• Vehicle fleet, in which there was the ratio of vehicles per staff, “seemed high”.

The impression given is that all the bad stuff is disappearing in the rear-view mirror and the body charged with protecting our rivers and lakes is now fully back on track, in control, and focused on the work that is its brief. 

However, the fall-out from the prosecutions taken and those abandoned is likely to drag on for a few years to come and may end up having a further financial cost.