Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour)
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Mr. Aston referred to difficulties in developing piers. One of the sub-committee's recommendations, which I wholly support, is to make it slightly easier for local authorities to secure funding for the design element of planning for piers. Central funding is already provided by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for the bricks and mortar to construct piers.

I am interested in the figures Mr. Aston provided on sea angling. Does he have any figures on the development of sea angling on Loop Head? More important, does he have proposals for developing this activity? The tourism agencies informed the sub-committee that they had identified sea angling as one of the markets they would like to develop. Mr. Aston appeared to indicate that Ireland's sea angling product is falling behind countries such as Iceland and Norway. What practical steps should be taken to correct this? How could we make it easier for groups such as the Loop Head Tourism Group to promote sea angling and attract tourists to their respective areas? Piers are one issue.