Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not understand some of the more detailed intricacies but we must conclude. I hope everyone will agree that it has been a very fair hearing. As I said at the outset, the purpose of the meeting is to help us prepare a submission. While I am a little bit at a loss in terms of the fishing sector, I can certainly relate to some of the issues that are also relevant to the area I am more familiar with. It seems that adequate resources to manage the objectives of an expanding sector are always going to be required, if for nothing else to ensure the integrity of what has been stated is maintained. In the same vein, there appears to be general agreement with regard to licensing, which is complicated. Certainly, everybody agrees that there is a need for an improvement in the process. We will have done something similar with regard to the manner in which An Bord Pleanála has responsibility to respond. That is not quite satisfactory either. Hatcheries seems to be an issue which everybody agrees with. It seems to make sense to ensure that stocks are maintained.

There are areas of division among the witnesses here today and that is part of the healthy dialogue that should take place. It takes place here in an open forum. The members of the joint committee are from a range of groups lest anybody think anyone is trying to put a lid on the nature of these hearings. From our perspective, it is being done in such a way as to help inform us in good faith at very short opportunity. As the witnesses will know, the Dáil rises next week and we have to try to have this submitted by the following week, which is the closing date.

I thank the witnesses for taking the time to come in. Some of them have travelled a considerable distance. It is 9 p.m., which is unusual, as the joint committee has not sat until this time at least in this session. We will therefore adjourn. I note that as luck would have it, under the lottery system, the joint committee's report on rural, coastal and island communities which refers, inter alia, to tourism and aquaculture as part of a sustainable socio-economic model, will be debated on the floor of the Dáil on Friday.

As second item up, it will be taken some time between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., but probably more likely between 11.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. Of course, it would happen on the same day that the Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth conference takes place in Ringaskiddy in Cork but if we defer it, there is a chance we would not get it back on the system. Therefore, we have decided to go ahead. There are members here present who had taken the time to contribute to the work on the sub-committee and I hope the Deputies present all will have time to contribute to that debate. As a committee, we have committed to keep this on the agenda and we are doing that as best we can.