Seanad debates

Wednesday, 12 May 2004

5:00 pm

Photo of Joe McHughJoe McHugh (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, to the House. While I have raised a general matter concerning the Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board, ALAB, an autonomous body established by the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, I am specifically concerned about the application by Marine Harvest for a fish-farming site in County Donegal.

This is a very straightforward issue. ALAB discussed the merits and demerits of the application. Although the board officially had a quorum, because all members were not present a balanced and definitive argument on the merits and demerits of the site were not forthcoming. I have a problem in that when the board was established each of the representatives came from different backgrounds within industry and the fishing sector. If the full representative group was not present to make a competent and comprehensive decision on that licence application for the salmon industry in County Donegal on behalf of Marine Harvest, the decision must be reviewed as must the role of ALAB in general.

I look forward to the Minister's response. ALAB has been compared to An Bord Pleanála and there have been difficulties with that board as planning is also not a defined science. However, in order to make a competent decision on any issue concerning a licence application for fish farming we need all representative parties at the table.

Photo of John BrowneJohn Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for raising the issue and giving me opportunity to apprise the Seanad of the functions and responsibilities of the Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board in the overall process for licensing of aquaculture. The most useful starting point for this purpose is the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1997, which brought about a comprehensive streamlining and modernisation of the law governing fish farming. In particular, it established a process for the consideration of applications for aquaculture licences that is open and transparent and permits participation by all interested parties.

A person who wishes to engage in fish farming must apply to the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources for an aquaculture licence and must provide all of the information necessary for the detailed consideration of the proposal. Details of all applications are made available publicly and to prescribed bodies, and account is taken, in determining applications, of all submissions received. The Department, in its consideration of applications, is advised by the aquaculture licences advisory committee. In addition to departmental personnel, it is made up of officials of the Marine Institute, Bord Iascaigh Mhara and the Central Fisheries Board.

It is open to the Minister, following consideration of an application, to decide to grant or to refuse to grant a licence. Where the decision is to grant a licence, the decision will specify conditions to be attached to the licence. These can relate to matters such as the limits of the area where the aquaculture may be carried on, the kinds of operations that may be undertaken and operational practices.

When the 1997 legislation was under consideration, there was a widely held view that there should be a right of appeal against decisions on licence applications. Fish farmers, on the one hand, wanted to be able to seek a review of a decision to refuse a licence, or of conditions that might, in their view, be too onerous. Environmental and other interests sought a right of review of decisions to grant licences. For this reason, the Act provided for the setting up of the Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board, which came into operation the following year.

The board is a statutory body and is independent in the discharge of its functions. Its membership is designed to be representative of the various interests concerned with aquaculture. The chairman is appointed by the Government and the six other members are appointed by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources from among the nominees of prescribed organisations representing a range of interests. These interests are the aquaculture industry, wild fisheries protection and development, planning and development, protection and preservation of environment and amenities and general economic and community development.

It is open to the applicant or any other person to appeal to the board against a decision on an aquaculture licence application, within a month of publication of notice of the decision. The process for dealing with appeals is spelled out in detail in the 1997 Act and, in keeping with the open and participatory nature of the licensing system generally, requires the board to allow the parties to an appeal and other interested persons an opportunity to make submissions on the appeal.

The factors that the board must take into account in determining an appeal are the same as those that apply in respect of ministerial decisions. These considerations, which are spelled out in section 61 of the 1997 Act, include the suitability of the area proposed for the aquaculture, other beneficial uses of that location, the likely ecological effects of the proposed aquaculture and the particular statutory status, if any, of the area.

In view of the board's independent status, the Senator will appreciate that it would not be appropriate for me to comment on any particular case that it has determined or that is currently before it. Accordingly, my remarks are necessarily limited to general issues and principles on the appellate process.

By and large, the board's work involves coming to a decision between competing and conflicting viewpoints on the merits of proposed aquaculture developments. As is the case with appellate bodies generally, it frequently finds itself in a position where one side or the other is dissatisfied with its determination. That said, there is a general recognition and acceptance of the need for a process which allows appeals to be taken against aquaculture licensing decisions. Our objective, therefore, must be to ensure that we have an appeals system which works in a timely and efficient manner to ensure that the aquaculture industry develops in a sustainable way, in the right locations and subject to appropriate conditions. Therefore, the appellate body must be appropriately constituted and follow working practices and systems which allow it to determine cases following full and careful consideration of the relevant issues within reasonable timeframes.

I am generally satisfied in the light of experience to date that the current provisions governing board membership ensure the bringing to bear on the determination of cases of a wide range of experience and viewpoints. I am prepared, however, to consider the matter further in consultation with relevant interests and in the context of Senator McHugh's remarks when an appropriate opportunity arises in the context of future proposals to amend fisheries legislation. I point out that section 56 of the 1997 Act allows the Minister to require the board to conduct reviews of its organisational structures and of the systems and procedures it uses to determine appeals. As over five years have passed since the board's establishment, it may be timely to ask its members to carry out a review of this nature. I am currently considering this matter and will inform Senator McHugh when I come to a decision in this regard.

Finally, I draw the Senator's attention to section 62 of the 1997 Act which permits the issue by the Minister to the board of general policy directives on aquaculture. The need for such directives will be kept under review in light of evolving trends in, and circumstances of, the industry. I assure Senator McHugh that I have noted carefully the points he made today and on other occasions about the appeals process. I will bear them in mind in the ongoing work to ensure that our aquaculture licensing processes are as efficient and as effective as possible.

Photo of Joe McHughJoe McHugh (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response and welcome the fact that there will be a review. It is timely after five years. I accept that the Minister of State cannot respond in the House on specific applications due to his independent role. I ask him to try to find an opportunity to contact Marine Harvest in Fanad, County Donegal and, through his officials, to discuss its case.