Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)

The introduction of the Bill represents a missed opportunity that was summed up comprehensively in the Minister of State's speech. He stated:

Consolidation and streamlining of the Foreshore Acts have been under consideration for some time. This process is intended to provide a modern, effective and integrated legal framework for the management of the State's foreshore estate in the future. However, such modernisation is not the purpose of this Bill,

In effect we are simply rearranging the deckchairs. We have a long and not too distinguished career across all shades of political opinion of significantly underestimating the value of the asset that our territorial waters and foreshore represent to the State. I am disappointed that the opportunity to put in place a modern, effective legal framework to manage and exploit, and deliver to the citizenry of the State the dividend from the proper management of that resource, is not availed of in the legislation. All we are doing is taking the existing legal provisions as they are vested in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, retaining only that which applies to aquaculture licensing and divesting itself of the remainder.

It is symptomatic of the tunnel-vision approach to running Departments that 2.5 years after the original decision to reallocate responsibility for foreshore, we could not have had that extensive consultation process which would have allowed us to deal today with a comprehensive legislative proposal to finally demarcate responsibilities within various Departments. This is only about divvying up the existing legislative provisions and painfully reminds us how we have consistently undervalued our marine resources, our foreshore and all that goes with it.

Much of the legislation governing this area goes back to 1933. Given the technological advances that have been made we could not have envisaged at that stage the extent of the resource we have, which is the envy of many countries across the globe. As we strive to meet by 2020 the target of having 40% of our energy requirements coming from renewable resources and with approximately €18 billion worth of offshore renewable energy projects with the Commission for Energy Regulation, here we are today rearranging the deckchairs some 2.5 years on from the Government decision to introduce a new legal framework. Will it be another 2.5 years before we have that legal framework? Will we continue to lose investment opportunities to develop wind, wave and tidal alternative energy resources? Mineral deposits may lie under our seas. We have had the ongoing controversy regarding the manner in which our gas resources have been allocated and exploited. We definitely need a more comprehensive legal framework to deal with all those issues.

The Bill also raises another critical question. Why does nobody want responsibility for this area? It seems to be nobody's baby. It was in the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, was shunted into the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and is now being shunted on to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government which has no track record of dealing with maritime resource matters. In terms of planning, this is an enormous resource which is unlike terrestrial planning per se. Terrestrial planning is mainly concerned with individual property owner rights and obviously third party rights. However, this is a resource that is owned by the State and needs to be exploited in the national interest. However, it seems to be an area of responsibility for which nobody wants to take ownership. By rights this should rest in a properly functioning Department of the marine, rather than in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The Minister of State might wish to comment on that later.

We will certainly not have the required legislative framework to assist in that development, which is why we have tabled an amendment that within six months of the enactment of the Bill, the Department should propose an extensive review of existing foreshore legislation and a new framework for foreshore licensing and development. I hope the Minister of State will accept the spirit of that Fine Gael amendment because time is ticking and we have evidence that people who are willing to invest significant amounts of money, are now moving projects to other locations, particularly in the area of wind, wave and tidal energy generation. We lost one big project to Portugal, as I am sure the Minister of State is aware.

The Bill makes provision for consultation between the Departments of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, which does not fill me with any degree of optimism. I shall instance two areas where consultation is ongoing between the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, where no progress is being made in resolving the issues under dispute. There is ideological warfare between the two on the nitrates directive. The Minister of State may well smirk, but it is a reality that is costing taxpayers and costing farmers. It arises because of the failure of two Departments to adopt a practical approach to the inspections required to ensure compliance with the nitrates directive. No farmer or politician is arguing that there should not be compliance. However, we need an effective and efficient use of taxpayers' resources and a single inspection regime. Yet the Department's inspectors and local authority inspectors under the aegis of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government are competing and claiming entitlement to inspect under the nitrates directive. Twelve months on from the original indication in a press statement by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Brendan Smith, that this issue was resolved, we are no nearer a resolution.

The other issue is the operational programme for seafood development. The Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, is painfully aware of the ongoing consultations and lack of progress in this matter. We are now some years into the operational programme. There are aquaculture projects which have been approved for grant aid by Bord Iascaigh Mhara and have the potential to increase employment significantly but are on hold because of the turf war between the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Minister of State's Department, which is as much about ideology as environmental issues. What we need is a practical approach. As with the nitrates directive, nobody suggests the environment needs to be compromised, but somebody must decide that the issue is to be resolved within a certain time - perhaps three months - with baseline studies carried out and approved at a European level. This will enable a sector that currently employs around 3,000 people to get on with an expansion programme which could, over a period of five years, double its employment and significantly increase exports. We currently have about 6% of the EU oyster market and 7% of its shellfish market at a time when Europe is importing €8.5 billion worth of shellfish annually. Ireland is one of the few maritime nations in the European Union that could contribute to reducing EU imports and earn significant moneys for this economy if we facilitated that sector in getting on with its expansion programme.

The sector currently employs around 3,000 people, but doubling that number is eminently attainable. In recent months I have been from the south-west to the north of the country. Last weekend I was in the Inishowen Peninsula visiting Marine Harvest, an aquaculture company which employs around 240 people. It is crying out for new licences so it can get on with the business of expanding its export opportunities and creating new jobs. I understand that in the Minister of State's Department at the moment there may be more than 300 licence applications which have not been dealt with and are caught up in the turf war between the two Departments. That is why I look with a jaundiced eye on the provisions for consultation - because without a definitive timeframe for dealing with licence applications - be they aquaculture licences, foreshore applications or licences for developing offshore energy generation facilities - we are on a hiding to nothing. We will continue to have endless delays, lost opportunities and more people not being able to find work in our economy.

It is a regrettable aspect of the Bill that we are not putting in place the optimum legal framework but rather, rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. It is not as if considerable work has not been done; the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Energy Security and Climate Change has published a draft Bill. It may fall well short - I am not in a position to judge what is required in terms of a legal framework - but it is a starting point. However, Departments seem to have assumed a monopoly of wisdom on these matters and do not accept that the Opposition or the committee system could help or contribute in any meaningful way. That is a poor reflection of our parliamentary democracy. Departments should be open to positive suggestions, particularly when they come from all-party Oireachtas committees; if they need to be improved, amended, and so on, that can be done. To disregard the considerable effort that has been put into this area is extremely regrettable.

Fine Gael will move an amendment to deal specifically with the issue of aquaculture licence applications, with the intention of repealing sections of the fisheries legislation that allow the Department to prevaricate endlessly and refuse to make decisions on applications. I hope, given the jobs crisis and the potential of that sector to create employment, the Minister will view those amendments positively. We will support the legislation on Second Stage but we are disappointed the Government has not taken the opportunity to take a further step and establish a modern legal framework to deal with the new challenges we face. This area can deliver significant economic opportunities and a dividend for the citizenry of the State.

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