Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Údarás na Gaeltachta was referenced many times. However, it cannot act outside the Gaeltacht and most of the coastline is outside of the Gaeltacht. China was also referenced many times. It is time to knock down the Chinese walls that appear to be blocking us on two fronts. Human consumption and the fact that Údarás na Gaeltachta was engaged in work in limited Gaeltacht areas around the coast does not in my view justify the decision not to develop natural seaweed along the entire coast. It appears to me logical that that would be done.

If an inventory was to be done of all of our natural seaweed, perhaps, starting in Donegal on the Derry border - perhaps in conjunction with our Northern Ireland colleagues - and continuing around the entire coast of Ireland and its offshore islands, what kind of timescale and resource would be needed? It seems to me that a sensible place to start would be to find out what we already have that could be exploitable and useable. I am sure a fair bit of work has been already done on what is out there but in terms of information gathering on value, volume and species how long would that take and how much would it cost to do it?

What type of annual commitment would be needed to do that? It would be a great job for NUI Galway.