Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. I know he is directly involved with the issue I am raising and we have discussed it in the past. Will he clarify the import of the minutes of a meeting between him, the Taoiseach and a company called Marine Harvest about the Galway Bay sea farm project and licence? Will he clarify the ramifications of those minutes for the licensing process?
These minutes were brought to my attention. I did not seek them. They were the front page story of The Galway Advertiserlast week. The Minister has always been very clear that in deciding who would eventually get the licence for the sea farm project, if it was to go ahead, based on having all the evidence, there would be an arm’s length distance between him and any company involved. I have evidence that a meeting took place between the Taoiseach, the Minister and the then Minister of State with responsibility for the Gaeltacht, Deputy McGinley, Deputy Joe McHugh and four members of the company, Marine Harvest.
Bord Iascaigh Mhara, BIM, says there are 21 expressions of interest in this licence. Why were not all the other companies, apart from Marine Harvest, invited to this meeting? It seems this meeting may have breached the rules regarding tendering regulations for salmon farm licences. I am asking questions.