Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised)

3:35 pm

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Because in the past this was not done well and the Commission took us to court and won. It now requires us to put in place a much more robust and environmentally sound licensing system. I agree with it on that, but it involves resources and a lot of time for the assessment of bays. We will do that and will try to increase the resources to do it. I have spoken to the Marine Institute about that and we are examining how we can do that in a way that is acceptable to the Commission and in accordance with the new regulations, but that also speeds it up.