James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I note and appreciate the Minister of State's support for amendments of mine to the Government Bill on minerals and mining earlier in the year. The amendments were around revisiting older mine sites and extracting some valuable materials that may have been left behind the first time around. They also concerned the circular economy which stresses the need to reduce, reuse, recycle. Has any progress been made in these areas? An action team was to have been implemented within the Department for these issues. There was also to be a research function in the Department and this was to be incorporated into its core activity. On the INFOMAR project and the Marine Institute, there was to have been an oceanography institute which was supposed to become a centre of global excellence as a result of its proximity to the Atlantic coastline. Is this happening? I would be interested to hear if the Minister can give any further information on this project.