Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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137. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of applications received each year by his Department for fin-fish farming licences since he became Minister; the number of these that have been decided; granted; refused; and broken down between renewal of licences and new licences; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6623/15]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Several fin-fish farming licence applications have been with the Department for a long time. It is reasonable for objectors and applicants that they get some certainty regarding the timelines for which decisions will be made on these licences. It was recently reported that the Minister said in the case of one application that a decision will be made soon. Will he clarify what “soon” means?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It is a fair concern to outline that there have been some challenges with aquaculture licensing. Before I came into office, no aquaculture licence had been granted for five years. The European Commission took Ireland to court because its licensing system was not fit for purpose.

As a result, we have put a licensing system in place that would be required as gold standard, which involves having to assess all the bays around the country that are categorised as special areas of conservation, which is practically every bay with the exception of one or two. That takes time. The decision-making process does not just involve me and my Department. It involves the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Marine Institute in terms of scientific advice and - obviously - it involves a process that allows stakeholders and objectors to be able to make know their views. It involves a public consultation process as well, and all of that takes time.

It is worth noting that in 2014 I made positive determinations in respect of two renewal applications for fin fish farming for trout farms. By comparison, since taking office I have made 278 determinations in respect of shellfish aquaculture. When we get a system working, which we now have for shellfish, I will make decisions as soon as I have a scientific, sound basis to do so. Fin fish farming has proved to be more complex than that, particularly around salmon and the location of salmon farms, salmon cages and so on. For the record, because people seem to think I am a Minister who just wants to drive through salmon farm applications all over the place, I have not granted one salmon farm licence application since coming into office and I will not until I get recommendations on my desk, from the Marine Institute primarily backed up by my own Department officials, to the effect that it is appropriate to grant the licence. I would like to see the salmon industry grow in Ireland but I will only do it in a way that guarantees the sustainability and environmental protection of the bays and marine environment for which the applications are being proposed.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I asked a number of very specific questions which the Minister has not addressed. The first part was to ask him for the number of fin fish farming licences that have been applied for each year since he came into office, the number that have been decided and the number refused, broken down between renewals and new licences. Can he tell me how many applications he has received, how many decisions he has made, how many were grants, how many were refusals, and what is the breakdown between renewals and applications?

The Minister always talks about processes. Would it be possible for him to ask his officials in the next week to give me a briefing note on the actual processes followed by him in assessing an application? The Minister says he get advice from Foras na Mara and so on. Can he get somebody to detail to me what those processes are and whether there are any timelines to them? Is it possible to find out how far down the process each application has gone? That would be a help in terms of openness, transparency, accountability and better government.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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On the first question, in 2011 two applications were received; in 2012 two applications were received; and in 2013 and 2014 no applications were received for new licences for fin fish farms. On renewal of licences, eight applications were received in 2011; nine applications in 2012; two applications in 2013; and two applications in 2014. It is important to say that in the case of renewals, there is a statutory guarantee to allow operators to continue operating while the renewal is being considered. We obviously would not want to shut down businesses while there is a consideration of a renewal. We do have a statutory guarantee that the companies can continue to operate while their renewals are being considered. We are not talking about huge numbers of applications here.

There is not a timeline on the process. I have looked at introducing one but that does pose problems because sometimes if we have to put scientific-based assessments in place, that does take time. Sometimes we have to take on extra contractors to do it. We are looking all the time at ways we can increase the pace of the consideration of these applications but when there is a detailed application - some of them are controversial and the Deputy is very familiar with a few of them - they take time. Deputy Ó Cuív is familiar with that.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister seemed to indicate there - I was making quick notes - that there are more than 20 applications for renewal. How many of those have actually been renewed and how many are operating on the basis that they can continue doing what they are doing without a formal renewal?

Many people around Galway are very concerned about the proposal for the fin fish farm in Galway Bay. It is fair to say that the uncertainty is causing deep upset among the public. It was reported that the Minister said a decision would be made on that soon. That was reported in the newspaper even though I can never get any indication from him here. Can he tell me within what timescale - two months, three months or whatever - he expects to make a decision on the application for the Bord Iascaigh Mhara, BIM, fish farm in Galway Bay?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Just to be clear, as I said earlier, we made positive determinations in respect of two renewal applications and both of those were trout farms, nothing to do with salmon at all. I am not going to give a timescale for the Galway Bay application because I have to wait to get recommendations on my desk. I have put those who are considering this application under some pressure to try to get those recommendations onto my desk but I am far more concerned about getting the decision right than I am about getting a decision made quickly on an application of that size and scale. I think people would expect that from me.