Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

The delays in processing and addressing new licences and renewals of licences are issues and this is an area I have had particular concerns about since taking on this role, with regard to my engagement with the industry generally. Deputy Mac Lochlainn is right that there is a resource issue. There is also an issue of allocation of resources. Internally, we have begun a process of looking at the entire system. I had a brief conversation with the chair designate of the Marine Institute in recent times. I intend to meet him soon, after he has had an opportunity to engage fully with the executive there. I am very conscious of the issue.

I am conscious of the level of output we were able to get from a stock such as farmed salmon. We went from 27,000 tonnes or 28,000 tonnes to approximately 8,000 tonnes. When I saw those figures, I thought they were stark. We recognise the challenges we face with the fishing industry and quota for a multiplicity of reasons, yet we are unable to increase what should be an opportunity for several reasons. If there are fish farms, then people would work on them, which would help coastal communities, notwithstanding the larger challenges involved. There is also the processing sector, which is very much dependent on fish to employ people and generate economic activity. Deputy Mac Lochlainn knows this business better than most of us. He knows the challenges the processing sector is facing in terms of the importation of fish, not only from the Faroe Islands and Norway, but from Vietnam and elsewhere. This is something we should be looking at.

Recently, when I attended the Our Ocean Conference in South Korea, I took the opportunity to visit an on-land aquaculture facility. It is not commercially viable in terms of the cost of energy but it is starting a process to look at how we might learn more from it. Perhaps we could move into this in time. It would address some of the environmental impacts that fish farming has.

The aquaculture industry is something I am very active on and concerned about. It is something we want to progress. I am conscious that it is about resources. I sat on the other side and often put a Minister to task about getting more resources. Sometimes, it is about how resources are allocated. We are looking at this. I am also conscious that, as we face into the Estimates, it will be a challenge to get additional moneys next year, for all of the reasons that have been outlined today and in recent days. This is a priority for us. It is set out in the programme for Government. It would help to address some of the issues that are resulting from the decline in fishing stocks as we aim to rejuvenate these stocks.