Mr. Tony Barrett:

Deputy Pringle asked that the former management of Arramara Teoranta clarify the supply of raw material prior to the submission of the application. From my time in Arramara Teoranta between 1999 and 2007, from memory, we had on average 20,000 tons per annum of raw material. My understanding is that Arramara received 25,000 tons last year. I do not see the regulation of supply being an impediment to the actual supply of raw material or the availability of it.
I want to clarify a further issue. It was mentioned earlier that a meeting took place in 2006 between Arramara Teoranta management and the relevant Government agencies and Departments regarding the regulation of supply. That did happen, and as the then CEO of Arramara I was at the meeting. I think everybody in the room agrees that regulation of supply is something that is very much required, and that was seen in advance back in 2006. Nothing came of that meeting and the application is made again this year. I think the meeting did spawn the requirement for a regulation of the industry. I would also like to read a footnote from the Joint Sub-Committee on Fisheries report on promoting sustainable rural coastal and island communities. The source of the information is the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO.

Ascophyllum nodosum, a major North Atlantic seaweed resource, is distributed widely from the Arctic Circle to 40 degrees North Latitude. In eastern Canada 45,000 T of wet Ascophyllum are considered harvestable. The present annual harvest ranges is 5/000 to 9,000 wet tons. Hand harvesting has been largely replaced by mechanical harvesting in the last 15 years.

I find it hard to get my head around this.