Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the chairman on his appointment and wish him well in his term of office. I go back far enough to the establishment of the Marine Institute; I happened to be there at that time when it had a small office in Dublin before it moved to Galway. I have always believed there is a tremendous opportunity for fish farming off our coast. We are not taking full advantage of it. As Deputy Mac Lochlainn pointed out, the Faroe Islands are well advanced. The problem here is that it straddles too many agencies. I would like to think there would be a one-stop-shop to deal with applications from A to Z. Do the witnesses have views on how it could be more streamlined and expedited? There are great opportunities and we would not be subject to the dreadful words "tax" and "quotas". The institute carries out research and advises the Government prior to the fisheries negotiations in December each year. Do the witnesses feed into ICES as well and provide it with information about the stocks of fish in Ireland? There is some confusion when it comes to pollock. We are told we should not fish it and on the other hand, fishermen tell us there is an abundance of pollock in area 6A. Will the witnesses respond briefly on those matters? All of us would look forward to a visit to the headquarters where we can meet the chief executive, chairman and the staff there to educate us more fully on the involvement the Marine Institute has in the sector.