Mr. Donal Maguire:

It should be noted that BIM is not the licensing authority in this regard. As the Deputy is aware the history is complex. I refer to the negative judgment against Ireland in the European Court of Justice in 2007 where the Irish system was found to be non-compliant with the requirements of the birds and habitats directives. In the meantime a number of other issues have arisen. The Department is working very hard to attempt to bring the licensing system into compliance and BIM plays a major part in that initiative, along with colleagues in the Marine Institute and other agencies. I agree with the Deputy that it is unfortunate that the operators find themselves in this situation. It is difficult from our point of view, in so far as we cannot give them the assistance we would like to give because they are not fully licensed in the sense that the Deputy refers to. This makes for a very difficult situation all around.

The second issue raised by the Deputy was the question of the attitude of the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and IFI, Inland Fisheries Ireland, with regard to both the Galway Bay project and salmon farming in general. It is a very difficult situation. IFI, unfortunately, has a history of objecting to every single salmon farm application that has every been lodged. It has a particular point of view. We take our science and technology advice from the same quarter as the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which is the Marine Institute. The institute is clear that the central issue is that of sea lice and the interaction between farmed salmonids and wild salmonids and that the sea lice are a minor and irregular component. This is what has decided our position.