Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)

I am puzzled by one or two issues and perhaps the Minister could help me with the puzzle, in particular the contradiction between the environmentalists and the fishing industry. Both of their arguments seem plausible and the Minister must try to reconcile them.

I was briefed on the issue by one Minister who was in the Department. He suggested a few points which are important in terms of the global outlook of the fishing industry. The first point is to ask why there is not a fisheries Ministry. The Minister who spoke to me said there was enough work in the area to keep him fully occupied as a Minister of State in the Department and that fisheries tended to be neglected as an important part of the Irish industrial landscape because it is lumped in with agriculture, which in itself is a job for the senior Minister. It appears that fisheries have been neglected by successive Ministers because it has been lumped in with agriculture and the marine.

The Minister will be aware that a marine co-ordination group was examining fisheries under the previous Government. A group of Secretaries General of various Departments were involved. The group was set up to break through the bureaucracy that has cursed the industry. I wonder if it is still active.

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