Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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182. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 368 of 14 November 2017, his views on whether the Marine Institute acted appropriately in withholding relevant information from the oral hearing on the disease outbreak at a site (details supplied), in view of the role and purpose of the Aquaculture Licence Appeals Board oral hearing; and his further views on whether the actions of the Marine Institute represent further evidence of the need to release the institute from the control of his Department's seafood branch. [52563/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, procedures in respect of the making of submissions to the Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board are set out in the 1997 Fisheries (Amendment) Act. In the context of the Oral Hearing referred to by the Deputy, no requests were received by the Marine Institute from the Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board in respect of disease outbreaks on aquaculture sites in the area and accordingly no submission was made to the Board in that regard. It should also be noted that the Marine Institute was not a party to the appeal in question.

My Department has five distinct Marine Divisions. These are the Sea Fisheries Administration Division, Sea Fisheries Policy & Management Division, Marine Programmes Division, Marine Engineering Division and the Aquaculture and Foreshore Management Division. The Marine Agencies Governance Unit, located within the Sea Fisheries Policy & Management Division of my Department, is responsible for corporate governance oversight of the Marine Institute, Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Sea Fisheries Protection Authority and the independent Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board. The oversight role of the Department in this respect is to ensure that each of the marine agencies is and remains compliant with the revised Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies (2016).