John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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1153. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the dumping of silt off Doonsheane Head, Dingle, County Kerry, will be urgently investigated (details supplied); if the silt will be disposed of 2 km out to sea; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55027/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Dingle Fishery Harbour Centre is one of the six designated Fishery Harbour Centres which are owned, managed and maintained by my Department under Statute. The disposal at sea referred to is associated with Capital Dredging Works being carried out by the Department at Dingle Fishery Harbour Centre, to improve navigation channel access to the pier and to improve vessel manoeuvrability within the harbour area.

The disposal of dredged materials at sea has been subject of a licence application and subsequent approval by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is the appropriate statutory authority for approval of disposal at sea operations. The licensing process included a statutory public consultation period for observations to be submitted to the EPA. Notice of the application was published in the Kerryman newspaper on 29 March 2017 and details of the application, including details of studies, investigations and reports associated with the application are available on the EPA website at .

The licence was granted by the EPA on 30 November 2017.

The disposal at sea will be confined to the limits of a dumpsite specified in the licence, the exact co-ordinates of which are detailed in the licence, as issued. The co-ordinates and a map of the dump site are available at .

The Department has been made aware of some concern regarding the dumpsite and has been in contact with the concerned parties and is keeping them informed.