Mr. Séamus Mac Eochaidh:

Harvesting rights are not an issue. Arramara Teoranta has no harvesting rights. No one has harvesting rights. As the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government controls the foreshore, he has the rights. According to the advice of the Attorney General, 98% of all seaweed belongs to the Minister. There are traditional rights, but legally the position since 1947 has been that individuals harvest seaweed and sell it to Arramara Teoranta. That is how it works. Locally, people will say they have rights and there are some situations where we believe there are rights on their deeds, particularly where the Land Commission divided land and there might have been certain seaweed rights attached to that land, but that is a legal issue. Some 95% of all seaweed harvested off the coast of Ireland is harvested without a foreshore licence.