Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Our committee asked the Minister's Department to submit an updated report dealing with the 30 recommendations. What we received was a summary document with no details and no recommendation-by-recommendation update. That is what we asked for. What we have here is not good enough. It is similar with what the Minister has given us today. I apologise for being late for the Minister's presentation, but if we look at progress to date on implementation, there are three paragraphs. All they state is that the backlog of 300 applications in shellfish is going to be dealt with over the next two years. That is not what we asked for. We asked for the Minister and his officials to tell us what is being done to implement those 30 recommendations. If the Minister is refusing to implement them, he should tell us.

We assume he is going to implement all 30 recommendations. The Houses of the Oireachtas deserve to know, recommendation by recommendation, where the implementation is at. That is not what we have here today. It is not acceptable. It is offensive to this committee that we have had this really poor report and now we have this presentation today. Three paragraphs are dealing with 30 recommendations. It is not acceptable.

The reason this Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and Marine is so exercised is because of the stunning failure of this State to develop the salmon farming industry. In 2018, Norway, a European country, is producing 1.278 million tonnes, Scotland is producing 174,000 tonnes and the Faroe Islands, which is five times the size of Achill Island, is producing 73,000 tonnes. Ireland is producing 17,000 tonnes while 17 years ago we were producing 23,500 tonnes. It is outrageous how a Department can strangle the potential of an industry that could create hundreds of jobs in rural coastal communities.

We had this independent report with 30 recommendations but we have had no update, either from officials of the Department or the Minister today, as to what is happening to deal with this crisis, this profound failure to develop the potential of this industry. I visited Marine Harvest for the first time 16 years ago. It is an important employer in rural north Donegal. I could see then the potential of that industry. Today, that industry's potential is being strangled. It is shocking. It has been 16 years, which is almost the entire length of my public service. I have been a public representative for all of those years and it is just going backwards. That is the urgency of the issue. The salmon farming industry is 75% of aquaculture yet the Department focuses on shellfish.

That is low-hanging fruit. The Department goes for 300 licences this year and 300 licences next year in the shellfish area. The Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board is not adequately resourced. These low-hanging fruits, applications in shellfish, are 25% of the overall industry and the aquacultural appeals licensing process will be backlogged without being resourced adequately. That is the appeals process. I am shocked at the lack of urgency in the Minister's Department, considering the shocking failure to develop this industry that is of real importance to rural, coastal communities. Those statistics are irrefutable.

In Scotland, it typically takes 18 to 22 months to deal with applications. One application has been on the board here since 2005, 13 years ago. The process has been absolutely strangled by bureaucracy and a failure to update systems. The Minister will get the word in his ear now from his officials about the EU. That is ten years ago. That is a long time ago. That is a long time to deal with these issues and address them with resources.

I commend the Minister on the independent report. I am not having a go at the Minister personally, but I think the Department officials have seriously failed our rural, coastal communities. The report is finally published and there are hearings in this committee and still we do not know what the Department officials are doing about the 30 recommendations. We need to know soon.

Who in the Department is responsible for making recommendations to the Minister about the issuing of licences? Who are the officials who deal with the enforcement of regulations? There should be a separation of Department officials or State agency officials who are responsible for the development and licensing of the industry from somebody in the environmental sector who deals with the enforcement of regulations in the industry. Those two matters need to be separated. That is one of the recommendations from the independent report. There needs to be no conflict of interest. I am interested to know if different individuals deal with the recommendations on licensing and the enforcement of regulations. Are they separate people and departments, or are they one and the same? That appears to be a challenge.

I may have more follow-up questions.