Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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I thank the Minister and the officials for coming before the committee. The Minister said that BIM works closely with the industry and all of the recognised representative groups in actively supporting the development of sector as a whole and the inshore fleet in particular. There has been no meeting or contact with members of NIFA regarding the implementation of the inshore strategy. Exactly one week after NIFA appeared before the joint committee a meeting was held with BIM. NIFA came before the committee on 24 January and a meeting was then held with BIM at its head office in Dublin. There has been no further meeting or update from BIM since that meeting on 31 January. I cannot see how it is working closely if it has not met or spoken to anyone since 31 January. Does the Minister have any comment on this?