Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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31. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the status of the implementation of eight recommendations by the Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht in relation to the Report of the Committee on Developing the Seaweed Industry in Ireland published in May 2015, which specifically considered the commercial aspects of harvesting seaweed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18476/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The May 2015 report of the Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht on Developing the Seaweed Industry in Ireland puts forward 8 recommendations for developing the industry. However, I have no statutory role in the promotion or development of the seaweed industry. Under the Foreshore Act 1933, I am responsible for regulating only the harvesting of wild seaweed and the report does make a number of recommendations in this regard.

Any regulatory regime must seek to balance existing rights and commercial potential while ensuring sustainability of the resource and compliance with the State’s obligations under EU environmental law. In that regard, the interaction between the Foreshore Act 1933 and traditional rights to harvest seaweed that may exist in certain places is under consideration by my Department in the context of advice from the Office of the Attorney General.

Options for the future licensing of seaweed harvesting, including the relevant recommendations contained in the Oireachtas Committee’s report, are currently under review.