Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)

I have already welcomed the Minister to the House. I would like to have two hours to debate aquaculture, fish farming and fishing and my five minutes will lapse too quickly. I wish the Minister well in his new brief and I am delighted to see a Corkman at the helm for a change.

To recount an anecdote, in 1986 we were trying to build a new pier in Ahakista. The Minister's former colleague and my old adversary, the very colourful now retired Deputy P.J. Sheehan, held a meeting on a Sunday morning after ten o'clock mass with the Minister's late father who was kind enough to invite me along as a local councillor. Lo and behold, the pier in Ahakista was eventually built and it was a very important success story. I use this anecdote to illustrate the point that Dunmanus Bay has a mixture of inshore fishermen fishing prawn, lobster, shrimp and a little mid-water trawling and there is much tension about the development of aquaculture in the bay, more so than in Kenmare Bay. This follows the point made by Senator O'Keeffe on trying to find a balance between the environment and fishing. I fully support the fishing industry in so far as possible. At present, there is an application for a large salmon farm in Dunmanus Bay and the inland fishermen from the Mizen and Sheep's Head peninsulas are unanimously opposed to further aquaculture licences in the harbour. I hope a happy medium can be found and I asked the Minister to examine it at some stage.

I fully support the concept of the Bill. Bantry Bay used to be the capital of the mussel industry. This came about in the aftermath of the Whiddy disaster when there was a huge loss of life. Between 100 and 200 people, including my brother and brother-in-law, lost their jobs as a result of the collapse of the industry in the area. I was involved in a mussel harvesting pilot scheme established in Bantry. We were a little green at the time and the original rafts for harvesting mussels were made of timber. We did not realise that the rich waters in the area mean mussels grow and are able to be harvested much quicker than in Scandinavia. Our rafts sank as a result, although progress was made later.

As I pointed out to Fianna Fáil Party Ministers when I was on the Government side, the aquaculture and mariculture sector is underdeveloped. One of the reasons has been major delays of up to seven years in issuing aquaculture licences. This issue needs to be addressed, as Senator Ó Domhnaill pointed out.

In some cases, it took three or four years to approve applications for foreshore licences in Bantry, Schull, Baltimore and Kinsale to facilitate the development of sewage treatment plants. The sewage treatment plant in Bantry was recently opened by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, nine or ten years after I first made efforts to have the project progressed. Despite funding being allocated in 1999, a delay in issuing a foreshore licence resulted in a six or seven year delay in commencing the project.

I was interested to learn of the Minister's meeting with representatives of the French fishing industry regarding the possibility of processing in Ireland the substantial amount of fish French vessels take from Irish waters. While this may not be directly related to the legislation, it is an important issue on which I hope progress can be made. Leaving politics aside, if the Minister is able to create jobs in Killybegs, Dingle, Castletownbere, Baltimore or Cobh, it will be good for Ireland and the community in question. I wish him luck in his endeavours. I am glad to have squeezed in that final agusín.