Mr. Michael Keatinge:

Yes. In every case we have sought to have Leader on the FLAGs alongside BIM. In coastal areas Leader has reciprocated and many of the coastal Leaders have somebody from BIM on them. The idea is to work to ensure that a project that merits funding does not fail for want of paperwork. The facilitator will identify excellent projects and divide the funding areas between Leader, the FLAG and Bord Fáilte. It is truly trying to integrate. We are under written instructions that the FLAGs must be stand-alone entities. We have truly sought to integrate with existing structures, including Leader, as Deputy Harrington has noted. Leader is represented in all of our FLAGs. We can have integrated projects. The one thing we cannot do under Community legislation is to fund a project from two sources. Instead we break the project into three parts, each funded from a different source. The idea is to create this integration across Government services. The budget is entirely outside my gift, but unfortunately the reality we live with is that fisheries budgets tend to be smaller.

On Deputy Martin Ferris's point, the FLAGs have been set up from mid-2012. I agree that there was a long lead-in time. We lost a number of years getting the EFF implemented and a few years getting agreement on how the FLAGs should be rolled out in Ireland. I do not have an answer or explanation on that loss of time. We have worked very hard over the last 18 months to bring together operational FLAGs and, as evidenced by their strategies, which are available to the members, they have done much work. We hope formally to launch the south west FLAG at the end of January.

One could use funding to get a nice machine for the co-op. Those are exactly the types of project that FLAGs would approve. One could definitely look at something like lobster and crayfish holding. We would encourage that.

The question of who selects the committees is difficult. It is a chicken-and-egg situation. Deputy Harrington has also talked about membership of the committee. We have approached communities and asked them to bring forward representatives. If a community had an existing co-op or community structure they could look to those to nominate somebody. The principle of the FLAG is a very open one. If a group come forward and said it would like to participate, it would be the intention that they would be welcomed. There is an attempt to avoid elections. It is to give it a community basis and we have found that people have been willing. We tend to see the same faces, but community activists have come forward in every area.