Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. Decisions have recently been made in respect of several applications for licenses for the cultivation of shellfish in Ballyness Bay. Public notice regarding these decisions is scheduled to be published in the Donegal Democraton Thursday, 5 December. The public notice will be in Irish and English as the area in question is in the Gaeltacht.

Representations have been received from public representatives and members of the public raising objections to these applications and to the manner in which the Department communicated the information to the local community. In fact, in accordance with the provisions of the legislation, public notices were placed by the applicants in the Donegal Democrat. These public notices were placed by the applicants on the instruction of the Department as a necessary part of the licensing process. One of the complaints is that as Ballyness Bay lies within a Gaeltacht area, the public notices should have been in Irish as well as in English. In fact, as the applications are placed in the newspaper by the applicant and not by the State, the requirement for Irish language notification does not apply. Notice of the ministerial decisions will be published in Irish and English as the Department is the publishing body in that case.

An aquaculture licence is required by law for the cultivation of finfish, shellfish and certain marine plants such as seaweed. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine considers all applications for aquaculture licences in accordance with the provisions of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1997, the Foreshore Act 1933 and applicable EU legislation. The licensing process involves consultation with a wide range of scientific and technical advisers as well as various statutory consultees. The legislation also provides for a period of public consultation. In addition, the Department must adhere to a wide range of regulatory requirements and other legislation that impacts on the licensing process.

A key component of the aquaculture licensing process is a series of measures designed to address the impact of aquaculture on the environment.

This series of measures is known as appropriate assessment. The appropriate assessment process arose from a European Court of Justice case against Ireland in 2007. The European Court of Justice, ECJ, declared that by failing to take all the measures necessary to comply with the EU habitats directive in respect of authorisations of aquaculture programmes, Ireland had failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive. The EU habitats and birds directive has resulted in the designation of certain bays by the National Parks and Wildlife Service as special areas of conservation or special protection areas for birds. These are known as Natura 2000 sites and most aquaculture takes place within them or adjacent to them. In the negotiations to address the ECJ judgment, the Department agreed a process with the European Commission and the National Parks and Wildlife Service that would govern the State's processing of aquaculture licence applications.

The appropriate assessment process is managed in the main by the Marine Institute via environmental and scientific contractors commissioned by the institute to carry out the necessary fieldwork and desk analysis. To date, the Marine Institute has submitted appropriate assessments on 32 bays to the Department, of which Ballyness Bay is one. Ballyness Bay in County Donegal is designated a special area of conservation. There are also a number of other special areas of conservation and special protected areas close to Ballyness Bay, and full consideration was given to the likely interaction between these areas and the proposed aquaculture activities. The appropriate assessment considered 20 applications for aquaculture operations in Ballyness Bay, which consisted of 14 for the cultivation of oysters only, five for the cultivation of oysters and clams, and one for the cultivation of clams only. The number of sites applied for has subsequently been reduced to 18 applications, with two sites for oyster cultivation having been withdrawn.

The legislation specifically provides for periods of statutory and public consultation in respect of aquaculture licence applications. All observations received within the consultation period are carefully considered by my Department. In accordance with applicable legislation, notice of the applications for Ballyness Bay were published by the applicants in the Donegal Democraton various dates between 14 March and 26 March. From the date of the relevant notice, the public had four weeks to make written submissions or observations-----

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