Dr. Mark Mellett:

We have been discussing the community benefit fund, and Ms Brien may speak more to that. It does not sit within our competence at this moment. In the context of the fishers, like any other stakeholder, we have to be sensitive to that community. It has decades of experience in the jurisdiction. It is not the only community. In the context of our maritime area, there are other stakeholders such as shipping and transport. There are other silent communities, which we also need to remember. That is the rich biodiversity that exists as part of the carbon sink. If we look back to the human relationship with the ocean, and this goes beyond Ireland, we have not been very understanding. The 140 kt nuclear tests in the 1940s and beyond were an abhorrent use of the ocean as a sink for testing explosions. We have seen it with the spills in the Caribbean Sea and with the Exxon Valdezoil spill. We see it today with the massive garbage patches in almost every ocean, which are continuing to the point where some suggest there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. Our broad perspective in dealing with the offshore renewable energy opportunities is that it is one segment, which is a priority, but not the only priority. The important thing is getting the right things in the right order so we can progress and deliver good environmental status while, at the same time, dealing with some of our pressing requirements for energy that does not pollute with carbon. My perspective on the relationship with fishers is dependent on the outcomes of the seafood/ORE working group and to see what comes out of that. I remain in touch with the chair of that group, Robert McCabe, on a regular basis.