Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fíor-fáilte roimh na finnéithe go léir. Ceapaim go bhfuil sé seo mar cheann de na díospóireachtaí is tábhachtaí sa seomra seo riamh. I want to speak about the aquaculture industry. We have 220 million acres of sea land, or sea water. We have 20 million acres of land. We spend an awful lot of time speaking about land and not enough time speaking about water and the aquaculture industry. I think today is very important.

Given that I live in Dublin, those present might be asking what I know about the sea. I am from Connemara. My father, Packie Sweeney, was one of the purchasers of seaweed going back years. He bought ribbon weed, blackweed, laminaria and carrageen from Mayo to Galway to Clare. There used to be a seaweed factory in Ballyconneely, where I come from, but it is now closed. When we were children, many people were employed packing carrageen. Some of them were employed by my father. Now things have changed and we have to move on. We need to have sustainable development. Every fisherman and every purchaser knows it will not last forever.

Fishermen and harvesters are intelligent people. The sea and the seabeds would not be in the condition they are in today if they had not harvested properly over the years. I will explain what I mean by harvested properly. Fishermen and harvesters know by instinct and by education how to move on from one place to another. For example, they know how many inches to cut before moving on. Self-preservation was good regulation, but we cannot have that now. We need regulations to ensure we have sustainable development. We have groups like Arramara and Acadian Seaplants at the moment. Other groups that know nothing about the sea might come in and take over.

As my party's environment spokesperson in the Seanad, I am very aligned to the preservation of the land and the preservation of the sea. My culture is also very dear to me. We have to ensure people who have been harvesting all their lives are looked after. There are turbary rights and they are with the Queen's estate and the court's estate in the North. I think we are in the EU. The turbary rights come. I have to research it further. I am not my party's spokesperson on this area.

The question of folio rights that we have been speaking about today needs to be followed up. It is known and it is a statutory fact in the North of Ireland that there are inheritance rights with estates. It is written down in law. We are always talking about how thing are done differently in the North, but this is an example of something that needs to be examined further here in order that we can see what we have to do.

I do not think regulation should be led by vested interests. The communities, the industry and the scientists should work together to ensure best practices for the licences and regulations that are laid down. One cannot do one without the other, however. One cannot leave out the communities, the scientists or the industry. They all play together. We have to ensure it is included in our gross national product.

I get worried when I hear about blanket licences that will almost extend from the north to the south. They might extend from Mayo to Kerry. We all know what monopolies do to society, for example, in the grocery industry. We could have the same thing in this case. I am not saying that is the aim or objective of any company. It is something we have to flag and prevent. If one company has a licence from Mayo to Kerry, where will the monopoly stop or start? We are talking about monopolies in oil, groceries and everything else. We have to talk about monopolies when it comes to harvesting and sea rights.

We have to develop regulations for best practice. We saw what happened when this country had developer-led building. We allowed vested interests to dictate what was happening. We might not have had best practice there. We could not have had it. We could go down the same road if we allow this to be led by vested interests, developers or monopolies. I think everyone around the table will agree that we have to focus on how best to protect and manage our sea, which is a valuable resource. The people who have been harvesting all their lives do not want this industry to go, no more than anyone else wants it to go. If it goes, they will not have a living. Self-preservation is the best way to proceed.

How are we going to operate in this sector? That is the question. There are two schools of thought. I have not heard the answers yet. I suppose that is what this committee is about. We need to flesh it out. We have listened to all sides here today. I am sorry I could not have been here for the entire meeting, but I was upstairs in the Seanad earlier. I heard a great deal of what was said. As the Minister said, we are all looking for the same result. We need to focus on how we can get that result. It is important to ensure it is all-inclusive. Nobody should be left outside the door looking in. We can see when that happens.

I would like to speak about the question of access rights, which has not been mentioned here today. Access rights to the sea go with estates. Reference has been made to the possibility that the Chinese will come in. I have heard nothing about that. A company from Canada is coming in. Theoretically, various companies will need access. Mechanical harvesting cannot be permitted because it would devastate the whole thing straight away. We have manual harvesting, which is facilitated by access from certain points. One can get in by many means. If a farmer has rights down to the sea shore, will he have to apply for an access permit if he needs to cross over from A to B past a person who has an inherited right? I have not heard anyone asking this question. I would like it to be answered.

How does one get over it? I refer to applying for a licence. The planning process is open. Information is available on the web. One can apply or one can object. Anybody can put in an observation and an appeal can be made to An Bord Pleanála. Will there be anything like that to ensure everybody has open access to apply for a licence? There are many questions which I would like answered. I know the witnesses will not be able to answer them all today. However, I think our culture is important also. We cannot railroad over it just because we want to ensure one body has a licence from Mayo to Kerry. We all want to ensure Arramara Teoranta which has been taken over continues with the good work because employment is badly needed in the west of Ireland. We want to ensure we get people in who will employ people. I started off by saying my father employed people in what one would call the big bad wolf of the old days and, as I said, there was a factory there. Carrageen was packed and sent off in lorries. I think there was another buyer in Galway at the time.

This is important but so too is culture. I know of the medicinal properties of seaweed. Anybody can go down to the sea and pick a bit. I presume that right will always be there and a licence will not be needed. This is one of the most important debates in this country and it applies mostly to the west of Ireland because it goes from the west coast to Rockall. The east coast is not as long. It is not just a west coast asset but it is an Irish asset. It is a huge asset.