Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Independents4Change grouping for bringing this motion forward. I also commend the good people of Bantry Bay who are in the Gallery. They travelled up today and had a peaceful demonstration outside the Dáil to show the Government just how opposed they are to the mechanical harvesting of kelp in their local, beautiful bay.

This is certainly not the first time, and may be the tenth time, that I have raised this issue in the Dáil with the Minister of State over the past six months. I have been totally opposed to this from the very beginning. The ten-year kelp harvesting licence was issued by the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to BioAtlantis in Tralee to harvest mechanically 753 ha, or 1,860 acres, of native kelp forest in Bantry Bay in west Cork. The licence that allows BioAtlantis to harvest mechanically vast amounts of kelp in Bantry Bay is experimental and the effects could cause huge damage to west Cork. This is the first licence in Ireland or Great Britain to allow the mechanical harvesting of seaweed and the effects could be detrimental to wildlife, tourism and employment in Bantry.

The mechanical harvesting of kelp will affect birds, fish, flora and invertebrates in the area, as well as the local inshore fishermen whose living depends on the bay and its resources. There is much anger and unrest in west Cork as a result of this licence being issued and there is huge concern for the local ecology and economy. Bantry Bay is a crucial resource in terms of the environment, tourism and local jobs. This licence, which has been granted without essential input from key stakeholders, is seen as a serious imposition on the people of Bantry. They feel that the granting of the licence was grossly unfair and see no benefit accruing to the Bantry area. Instead, there is significant fear of the negative implications it will have.

The communication or lack thereof between the Minister of State’s Department and the people of the Bantry area on this issue has been totally disrespectful to the Bantry inshore fishermen. I ask the Minister of State whether there have been communications between the different Ministers and Departments that have an interest in marine and planning issues. The Department has an obligation to support Cork County Council and provide information on proposed developments in the locality in order for the council to be able to disperse this information to the public and allow the public to have an input.

The council was not consulted about the granting of this licence, which will have an enormous impact on the people of Bantry and the wider community. The harvesting of kelp will also have a detrimental effect on inshore fishermen. For the past ten years, fishermen have tried to conserve the lobster stock by returning all female lobsters to the sea while working with BIM and funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The five sites mapped in Bantry are the main lobster grounds of the bay and the nursery area for all other fish, including shrimp, crab and pollock. This licence will destroy the habitat for the fish and endanger the livelihoods of the local fishermen. The Department has completely ignored the Bantry Bay coastal zone charter, which stakeholders in our community worked hard to develop. I ask the Minister of State to revoke the licence issued to BioAtlantis Tralee without delay on the basis that the Department did not advertise it with sufficient detail, did not engage in consultation with the local stakeholders and failed to respect the charter. In 2010, the local community, regulatory bodies and other agencies with an interest in Bantry Bay developed the charter to safeguard our bay.

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