Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My first question is on the Natura 2000 bays. Dr. Heffernan said the institute was nearing the end of the assessment stages, but how near the end is it? There are 90 bays. Once data collection is completed and appropriate conservation objectives are set, there will be a requirement for the process to start again and for the science to be updated. Has that been thought about? Has the way the project is going to work into the future been considered? One of the difficulties was that there were three agencies, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Marine Institute and the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine, and nobody really took ownership of the process or co-ordinated and drove it. Does Dr. Heffernan agree that this needs to happen in the future? There will be a need to update the science for each of the bays. What planning has there been around that?

Dr. Heffernan also mentioned the Irish Maritime Development Office which was set up to provide services to support the development of the shipping related maritime services sector. Will he expand on its role? How will it interact with the Marine Survey Office in certifying seafarers? Does he see a role for the institute in terms of the many farmer-fishermen who have left fishing and gained certification in England, through the MCA, to work on offshore wind energy construction but who do not have equivalency here in terms of the recognition of qualifications? Is there an opportunity for the institute to develop something along those lines?

On the question of the Galway Bay offshore renewable research centre, what is SmartBay Ireland and what is the relationship between SmartBay Ireland and the Marine Institute? How will the relationship develop? There appears to be a lot of concern in Galway that a 35-year lease has been sought for the site, leading to a degree of permanency in offshore renewable energy construction. When the original ten-year lease was awarded in 2006, was an appropriate environmental assessment carried out? Would any details of the assessment be available which one could look at?

The seabed mapping of Irish waters was fantastic and very impressive and the partnership with Canada is very interesting. Is this raw science which will feed into climate change research or is there any commercialisation potential to it? If so, will the witnesses expand on it?

The institute monitors farmed finfish. Has there been any research into dioxin levels in farmed finfish?

Finally, many mussel farms go down owing to the appearance of biotoxins in certain bays. Is there any research into what is causing biotoxins and into what can protect mussels from them?