The chairman of the North West Fisheries Board, Mr John Walkin, has offered to mediate in a row between his board and the Irish Farmers' Association in Mayo which yesterday decided to ban fisheries board staff from their lands.
The ban was announced at a protest meeting organised by the IFA at the board's offices in Ballina, Co Mayo, where it was alleged the board was conducting a campaign against farming at national and EU level.
The IFA president, Mr John Dillon, said the board had mounted a campaign against the farming community over the issue of water quality in the area, and he called for a fundamental change in the way the board does its business.
This would include, he said, an end to the board's campaigning against farming in the north-west.
"For too long farmers have been treated as scapegoats for so-called water quality problems in the north-west, despite excellent water quality across all the great western lakes and another superb mayfly season this year," said Mr Dillon.
He said the board's demand for the disclosure of the names of farmers who were involved in the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) and its questioning of the funding for REPS schemes had "overstepped the mark and undermined the confidence of farmers in how the board conducted its functions".
He said these included extensive and draconian powers to prosecute for pollution offences, which must be applied in a fair and even-handed way.
But last night Mr Walkin denied the board was in any way anti-farmer and offered to mediate in the dispute.
"There are two main industries in Mayo, fishing tourism and farming, and I want to see both of them working for the benefit of all," he said.
He said he supported the actions of the board and its chief executive, Mr Vincent Roche, who, the IFA claimed, had written 40 letters to the EU Commission and the Department of Agriculture questioning funding for the REPS scheme and requesting the names of farmers in REPS without the knowledge of the farmer representative on the board.
Mr Walkin said he would like to see the issue resolved through dialogue.