Dr. Ken Whelan:

In the context of the question on the privatisation of resources, the elements we have out there, along and off our coast, are all part of the national biological capital we have in our oceans. When looking at it in that way, we obviously need the private sector to come in and invest in those areas. In my experience, part of the problem often is when a plan is presented and discussions start at the planning stage.

In reality, the concept stage is when one needs to integrate the long-term needs of the nation with, perhaps, the short-term to medium-term needs of an industrial involvement. It comes back to planning and coastal zone management. I agree completely. That is what I had in mind for seaweeds and those areas close to the coast.

We need to do what we cleverly did with Galway Bay when we designated it as a smart bay with a view to getting industry to look at it as a test bed. We need to be designating smart bays and coastlines, starting the discussions at the conceptual stage and bringing those private sector industries with us so that we do not have any conflict in the future between the resources which belong to the State and the need to be able to utilise them for our energy needs.