P J Sheehan (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

While I welcome the Bill, many points require clarification. I must state here and now that I welcome it to see whether it will expedite decisions on applications lying in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for the past number of years that have not been dealt with. It is a sad reflection that people in my constituency who have applied for foreshore licences to develop industries that could have immense employment potential for the area are held up by red tape and bureaucracy. It is frustrating for the people concerned who are trying to play their part in the country's economy. They are being met with a stonewall fence by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, raising repeated questions on various matters concerning same.

I remind the House that, as environmental issues and cost constraints increasingly limit the catch of the world's fishing fleets, and as the population of the world grows, it is inevitable that future global demand for fish and other seafood will be satisfied only by farming our seas and fresh waters. Even in Ireland, more than 35% of all fishery products sold in supermarkets and restaurants are now of farmed origin. These include salmon, trout, Arctic char, turbot, halibut, sea bass, sea bream, tilapia, mussels, oysters, prawns, shrimps and even tuna. Farmed cod and other white fish will become increasingly available in the near future.

We must cater for the impact of that on world fish food production. As an industry, our greatest resource is the marine environment, where aquaculture has the potential to provide a truly indigenous livelihood for those living in relatively remote areas such as those I am familiar with since I came into this House. I have advocated their cause in this House on several occasions but, alas, that has fallen on deaf ears.

All along the Irish seaboard, these small communities would be viable if they were allowed to develop the industries they are planning. They would be of immense benefit to employment in those areas. The fishing industry and inland fisheries 50 years ago were the bread and butter of the economy of people living in isolated areas. They supported jobs in many associated businesses, such as fishing equipment, including manufacturing, supply and maintenance, fish feed manufacture, channelling road haulage, vessel charter and operations, as well as in fish processing, sales and distribution, both locally and further afield.

We are entering an era where energy can benefit from this industry, with wave and wind power. That too is bedevilled with red tape and bureaucracy from environmental demands. It is a sad reflection that local people all over rural Ireland are up against a stone wall defence from faceless bureaucrats who will not even agree to their natural demands, the demands of the people concerned who know only too well that they can develop a business but will not get the opportunity to do so. It is very frustrating to sit on plans for five years and not get off the ground.

I hope I will see the effects of this Bill when it is passed but I hope the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will not carry on with the same approach to those individual industrialists who have the will, the way and the power to develop their proposed industries. At long last, I hope the Minister of State will bring my message to his senior counterpart in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government that the Department should weed out the unnecessary bureaucracy that exists in these applications.

In the Minister's speech, he referred to the purpose of the Foreshore and Dumping at Sea (Amendment) Bill, saying it was brought forward to transfer certain foreshore functions from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. I too would like to see these functions operating well under the new transfer. When forming the Government in 2007, it was decided to transfer certain coastal functions from the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. That is only now coming to fruition. Did it take two years for the Government to realise this was an urgent matter that should have been dealt with when the Government was formed, when it contemplated transferring it, and not half way through the lifetime of the Dáil, if it goes for the full term? I doubt that will happen but it is better to live in hope than die in despair. I hope the Minister of State will think hard and deliver on the points the Minister explained in his introduction.

The foreshore consists of land from the high water mark to the 12 nautical mile limit and comprises 57% of the land area of the 26 counties. There is no other Deputy in this House who knows the foreshore better than me, when I have Dunmanus Bay, Bantry Bay and half way up the Kenmare River estuary in my constituency.

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