Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister knows, one of the big problems in the context of shellfish and Ireland reaching its full potential has been the lengthy delays in appeals going through the Aquaculture Licensing Appeals Board. Will the Minister comment on how he is going to resource this? I have no objection at all to the amendment. We do not have enough people with experience who can stay on and lend their experience. We dealt with this at the committee. It relates to fisheries. The Minister’s officials from the Department were present at the relevant meeting. The Minister will recall from his time as a member of the committee that the Faroe Islands have a population of about 30,000 or 40,000. That is the same size population as the Inishowen Peninsula, from where the Minister and I come. The Faroe Islands have a bigger shellfish industry than Ireland. That is incredible. Scotland’s industry is many times the size of Ireland's. Norway is on a different planet. We have never achieved our full potential. We are an island nation. We are surrounded by water. There is huge potential. However, it has to be done properly and with a proper appeals system. People should be able to object and matters should be looked at. The problem is, however, that it takes so damn long for this to happen, which is killing the industry. What is being done to resource the Aquaculture Licensing Appeals Board adequately in order to ensure that it makes decisions, one way or another, and resolves matters in a speedy manner?

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