Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I take the opportunity to welcome the people from Cork South-West and the Bantry Bay area, who are in the Gallery. Cuirim fáilte romhaibh go léir. They made the long journey from west Cork this morning.

As my colleague, Deputy Ó Cuív has stated, Fianna Fáil supports this motion. I thank Deputies Connolly and Pringle for bringing it forward. There is no doubt that seaweed harvesting has massive potential for coastal areas like my own in west Cork. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht advocated this in its report of May 2015, although I would identify a number of caveats in this regard. Seaweed aquaculture is an emerging industry to a large extent and in that regard, safeguarding actions need to be put in place in the interests of existing traditional practices and the environment. The management of seaweed harvesting is key to ensuring this industry is allowed to prosper. There are many issues pertaining to regulation that lead to a serious lack of consistency in the issuing of licences.

I propose to focus on an ongoing matter relating to west Cork. I know I am biased, but I firmly believe that I represent the most beautiful constituency in this country. Within that beautiful constituency is the beautiful Bantry Bay. My concern relates to the ten-year licence granted to a company for the mechanical harvesting of 1,860 acres of native kelp in Bantry Bay. It is proposed that this area will be divided into five zones, four of which will be harvested. Essentially, the fifth zone will serve as a safety net for the company in the event that one of the other zones becomes inaccessible for reasons such as adverse weather. Since last May, I have attended numerous public meetings organised by concerned stakeholders and I am in constant contact with a group, Bantry Bay - Protect Our Native Kelp Forest. I have submitted parliamentary questions on this issue but received no satisfactory response. The reply to one of those questions indicated that the of the licence would be mitigated by the fact that one of the allocated zones is a stand-by zone, thus reducing the overall area for harvest. In other words, because only four of the five zones are to be harvested, suddenly everything is going to be okay. The reply also states that the licence is subject to strict monitoring but that this monitoring commences after the first three years of harvesting. Retrospective monitoring is inappropriate and irresponsible.

I have put questions to the Minister of State, Deputy English, on the floor of this House about the granting of this licence. Prior to his appointment, I corresponded on the matter with the then Minister, Deputy Coveney, but he was not willing to meet me. In any event, the Minister of State advised me that the licensee was required to submit a detailed monitoring plan to his Department for approval. Under a Fine Gael Minister, this plan was approved on 30 November last and thus the licensee is free to commence harvesting under the terms of the licence finalised in 2014. On hearing this, I called on the Minister of State to suspend the licence until such time as he has considered the opinions of the people of Bantry Bay. I am disappointed that he is not willing to order an environmental impact assessment, which would conclusively set out the impact of this licence and show the local community that he is conscious of its concerns. In effect, this licence was granted without consultation or debate and without any requirement on the licensee to appear before local stakeholders to explain the situation. The planning advertisement in the newspaper was barely visible. Most importantly, this licence was granted in the absence of an environmental impact assessment.

There is no prospect of meaningful employment in the area because the company involved is not local. Small-scale local seaweed farmers are experiencing difficulties securing licences. If this mechanical harvesting is allowed to proceed, it will have a detrimental affect on local jobs, on fishing and on tourism. The committee recommends that a separate licence category for mechanical harvesting could be introduced if it is felt that this could benefit growth. It also states that local authorities are best placed to weigh up whether licences should be granted. Surely these recommendations should be put in place first to ensure the enforcement of regulations. It appears to me that what is playing out in Bantry is akin to putting the cart before the horse. The people of Bantry believe they are being treated like guinea pigs.

This matter is being dealt with by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government but I believe it should come under the remit of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. However, that is an argument for another day. I call on the Minister of State to suspend this licence until such time as an environmental impact assessment has been carried out.

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