Mr. Gerard Kelly:

Deputy Penrose asked about shellfish farms. The old voisinageletters are just that - letters. They are not a development document that has been signed and sealed. Mr. Crowley will read from some of them in a moment. The letters concerned boats in the area. I had imagined that they left some port in Northern Ireland, fished a bit in Irish waters and went home again that evening, the next day or whenever, not that they were based in Cork, Galway, Arranmore or anywhere like that. All of a sudden, our Government recognised the rights of UK shellfish farms, which are plots of land and may not have boats. We were making provision for them to take seed from off Wicklow Head or Rosslare and bring it to the North.

A question was asked about whether the judge instructed the Minister. He did not. He said that it would be a great idea were the Minister to legislate for this but he did not instruct him to do so. I am sure that it is like the X case, namely, the Government should legislate if it can.

Deputy McConalogue asked how this has been written for abuse. We spent a few days watching the State wriggling over what "owned and operated" meant. It meant anything. Now we have new legislation. The Attorney General was present during the hearings. The Attorney General's office saw how wide a range the term "owned and operated" could cover, but what has it stuck in this Bill? That something is "owned and operated in Northern Ireland" does not mean anything; it could be a French or a Dutch boat. That is how the provision is open to abuse. We have taken legal advice on this matter and have been told that the provision is void because of uncertainty.

The Moville district is an area of Lough Foyle with which the Deputy might be familiar. It covers all of Lough Foyle. I do much of my business there and I was informed last week that we will not be given an allocation of mussel seed this year even though we need it to run our business. That is the same farm that applied to Brussels for grant aid for a new boat. Whether this is a vindictive move by the Department, I do not know.

Mr. Crowley has a document in which the State declared what voisinagewas. He will cite it.