Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Beamish for his presentation. Having examined the Norwegian and Scottish experience, I can see there is great potential to develop an aquaculture industry on the western seaboard of Ireland. If the licensing framework and appeals regime is robust, independent and seen to be independent then I have no doubt the sector will provide employment over the next decade to 15 years. It would particularly provide employment in areas that IDA Ireland or Enterprise Ireland would not go into in a month or in decades. We must embrace the sector and its potential. However, we must adopt a sensitive approach. I welcome the work that has been done on the sensitive SAC and Natura sites. Many of these sites are contentious and controversy will inevitably follow many of the proposals, whether they are from BIM or private industry. Much inadequate information and misinformation has been circulated. There is also a lot of genuine concern about the sites. For example, there is a concern that traditional jobs and fisheries will be displaced, and we should not ignore such concerns. When one is balancing books and saying that a provision will create X jobs, one must subtract the jobs that will be displaced, such as those in sea fisheries. We should avoid that at all costs.

Deputy Pringle mentioned the exercise on the 94 bays and harbours that are Natura sites. Has that work been completed? Roaring Water Bay, Dundalk Bay and Castlemaine Bay were mentioned. Are they the only bays being considered for licensing applications at present?

The committee does not just focus on aquaculture. We have a concern, which was touched on during our previous meeting, that some rural communities have suffered as a result of consolidation in the sea-fishing industry. Can we explore the possibility of aquaculture being complementary to sea fishing? Can we allocate a total allowable catch, TAC, improve licensing or create more favourable policy instruments to support island and remote rural communities that do not have access to fishery harbour centres on the west coast? Can we explore how such communities can exploit resources on their doorstep to provide jobs, not just in the aquaculture sector but in the small inshore fleet? I know that much of this subject requires a national discussion and a national policy. Some of the challenges that lie ahead are the allocation of TAC from one sector to another and the controversies that could follow.