Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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917. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 662 of 27 May 2020, the outcome of the report drafted by the marine engineering division on the construction of road approximately 400 m in length along the foreshore of Lough Foyle at Clar, Redcastle, County Donegal. [5000/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Further to Parliamentary Question number 662 of 2020, my Department’s Marine Engineering Division examined the site in question in May 2020 and has reported that a vehicle access track had been recently created or modified along the upper shore. The report outlines that the track referred to runs predominantly above the high-water mark but does crossover to the public foreshore for short distances. Matters above the high-water mark are a matter for the relevant local authority.

The Marine Engineering Division report suggests that the purpose of the track appears to have been to facilitate access to oyster sites.

As the Deputy is aware, the management of aquaculture and associated foreshore licensing function in the Lough gives rise to legal and jurisdictional complexities. Applications for Aquaculture licenses are considered by my Department under the provisions of the 1997 Fisheries (amendment) Act, the 1933 Foreshore Act, and applicable EU Legislation. However, in the case of Lough Foyle, Section 2 of the 1997 Fisheries (Amendment) Act disapplies the Act to the Moville Area, as it is defined in the Foyle Fisheries Act, 1952.

The Good Friday Agreement provided for the establishment of the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission (FCILC). This body is one of the six North South Implementation Bodies created under the Agreement. The Loughs Agency, as part of the FCLIC, has been given responsibility for fisheries related matters in respect of both Lough Foyle and Carlingford Lough and the legislation envisages that the Agency will enter into management agreement with the relevant authorities in both jurisdictions with a view to assuming responsibly for aquaculture licensing within the loughs. Discussions in respect of the management agreement are ongoing. Negotiations regarding the jurisdiction of the Lough Foyle are, in the first instance, a matter for the Department of Foreign Affairs.

My Department organises and participates in an inter-departmental working group which is pursuing a way forward in terms of the future management of aquaculture and associated foreshore activities on Lough Foyle, in parallel with a workable resolution of the complex jurisdictional issues involved.

In view of the multi-dimensional and cross jurisdictional nature of the issue involved, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.