Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's reply and his confidence in and vision for this industry. As an island nation the waters around our coastline are a goldmine, so to speak. The development of our aquaculture industry is a major initiative that must be tackled immediately to realise the maximum potential of our high quality produce. In 2011 in County Kerry alone, 1,115 tonnes of produce such as mussels, oysters, clams, scallops etc. were cultivated before processing. The actual product was worth €2.4 million and if it goes through the full processing procedure one can imagine the number of jobs that could be added to the 112 working on the raw state of our produce.

See this speech in context