Mr. John O'Sullivan:

I will try to answer all of the questions. The current situation cannot continue in respect of sustainability. I am not sure whether, if we were to be examined by the European Commission to see that we are in line with the proper systems, it would be allowed. I am not sure whether it is sustainable.
How does one define the public good? Does it mean extra employment for the country? Is it measured in exports? I think it is defined by several criteria. One is that what our generation leaves behind should be the same as what we got. Our job is to pass it on in the same condition as we got it in and not damage it. The second is to create jobs, sales and exports. BioAtlantis employs seven people with doctoral degrees. There are not many companies around the country that employ seven people with PhDs. There are three engineers and two accountants in the company. Not many companies provide such high-value jobs. We are small but we are growing rapidly. That is to the public good. We are involved in research on gut health. We have a patent on a bioactive ingredient from seaweed that could improve gut health and microbiological immunity. That is also in the public good. We could potentially produce something that would reduce the incidence of irritable bowel disease. It will probably take us five more years to get to where we want to be. That is all work in the public good.
In respect of the diversity and growth of the industry, we export to 30 countries. We export to China and sell there at prices as good as those we get in Europe. The Chinese came to us to buy seaweed meal for the fracking industry. The question is whether we should operate as farmers did in the old days, when they exported cattle on the hoof, or process here and create jobs. In the beef industry the processors step out of line every so often. I agree completely that there must be independent control.
I do not think the status quocan continue. It is not sustainable. Factories bought seaweed from harvesters. We have a licence application for Clew Bay. Being nice boys is a disadvantage to us because we could go up to Clew Bay and pay €50 to get the weed, but we do not do that. Since 2007 we have bought the weed from Arramara. When the Acadian Seaplant sale process started it would have been logical to create a presence in Clew Bay and buy it from the harvesters. That would have been breaking the law, which would have been very advantageous to us in this instance. We did not do that. BioAtlantis did not break the law. We have never in the past seven years bought a tonne of seaweed from any harvester on the west coast. I have no idea whether all the harvesters in Arramara are tax-compliant. That is not my problem. We want to build a relationship with the people we want to employ in Clew Bay. We are building an industry. They will be tax-compliant, whether as self-employed people or as employees. That is not my problem.
There are many offshore islands in Clew Bay. We do propose to harvest seaweed from them. At the moment, guys go out in a small punt to try to tow it back in a net. They are probably not complying with the health and safety legislation. Clew Bay is open water. If we put a vessel into Clew Bay to take tonnage there we have to be licensed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. That is quite a strict process. We will work with the offshore licences. They will harvest and we will take responsibility for buying it from them.
In response to the question of whether there should be a maximum allowed for any industry, how does one define an industry?