Mr. Robert McCabe:

I will deal with only one specific aspect of the Deputy's question as other parts of it are a little beyond my remit. He mentioned the concerns of fishermen. One issue we need to address in that respect is the absence of good baseline data.

The committee will see it in the introductory remarks in the briefing note circulated. A substantial issue to address is to gather good baseline data on the ecology and hydrography of the areas where we will establish the DMAPs. This feeds a concern for fishermen that they may not be able to demonstrate the impacts because there was not sufficient baseline data.

Similarly, from a renewable energy perspective, there is a need for improved data on the spatial activity of vessels, particularly sub-12 m vessels. As most will probably know, the latest figures from Bord Iascaigh Mhara show 81% of our fishermen are operating in vessels in less than 12 m. There is not good spatial data on this to support the fishermen and their efforts and to provide good data to the renewable energy sector. These are issues that are on our agenda in the working group but we need to improve both the sharing of the data we have and to acquire new data.