Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Let us discuss the European Court of Justice, ECJ, judgment given that the Minister mentioned it. The judgment was in 2007, which is 11 years ago. That arose from the habitats directive not being transposed, which was 24 years ago. Governments did not do it. It had nothing to do with the industry. That was 11 years ago. The other point is that there are applications for areas where SACs do not apply and they are facing the same delays. Eleven years is hell of a long time to get to grips with the implications of a judgment. The birds directive mentioned by the Minister was in 2009, which is a decade ago. The Minister sees the impact it is having on the industry. We are desperately trying to get jobs into rural, coastal communities and to get employers to locate there. It is a decade now and the excuse of the ECJ has long run out. After 11 years it should not be put forward as a barrier.

This makes me quite angry. The Minister referred to people from Donegal. I am a former member of this committee and my two colleagues are current members. The coastal communities down the west coast of Ireland from Donegal to Cork have been let down, despite the potential this has. It is estimated that the loss as a result of all this will be over €1 billion within a year or two. That is the estimated loss in production by the industry. How many jobs is that?