Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. The White Paper will be crucial to set out the policy for Ireland. I had hoped to make a submission. I read all the documentation and I got as far as writing a draft submission. I took the trouble to read it and what troubles me is that in theory we will make a change but the documentation I read suggests that we are continuing in the same direction.

The Minister for Rural and Community Development will also deal with my next point in the next business. We do not yet have a policy for sustainable living on the islands and for supporting what is being done there with indigenous industries. I will take as examples areas in which I have taken a particular interest. One of these is seaweed - the Minister is nodding his head. We have got nowhere with this as an indigenous industry. Another is wool, which I discussed yesterday. We have spent €100,000 on being told the possibilities for wool. In the scheme of the big accountancy firms this is not much but it is still a lot. The possibilities for wool include everything from insulation to fertilisers but we have done nothing. These are the examples that come to mind very quickly.

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