Vol. 410 No. 1
3 Mrs. Barnes asked the Minister for the Marine if the Government will respond positively to the suggestion made at the opening of the recent aquaculture conference that the fish farming sector should be represented on the task force to tackle unemployment in view of the fact that it is now a major employer in rural coastal communities.
The special task force on employment, which was inaugurated by the Taoiseach on 17 June 1991, is a high powered entity which draws on the most senior and experienced personnel across the spectrum of the Government, employers, trade unions, the semi-State sector and many others. The establishment of the task force is a demonstration of the Government's commitment to bring the same energy and expertise to bear on the employment issue as it has already paid such dividends for the economy as a whole and for individuals in the areas of inflation and economic growth, where our performance has been outstanding in recent years.
While I do not envisage the direct participation of the aquaculture sector in the proceedings of the task force, I am glad of this opportunity to acknowledge, as the Deputy herself has, the major role which aquaculture has had to play, and which we hope to build on, in the development of the natural resources of our rural coastal communities.
I will be co-operating fully with the task force, as will my Department, and in this I would emphasise a number of the ideas which the Taoiseach identified for the task force as ones which could fruitfully be pursued. These include the need to look at the employment content of development proposals on hand with a view to having early decisions made and the need to look at administrative structures in place. These and others, such as the need to consolidate and expand on the market opportunities which exist for our output, will inform my thinking over the coming months. I would make one other important point, and this has also been raised by the Taoiseach. Planning procedures, including those operated by my Department in relation to assessing fish farming projects are open, democratic, consultative processes which allow substantial scope for comment. I urge all parties to bring objectivity to bear in this area. I have repeated again and again that I will not allow projects which damage the environment to proceed. In the interests of jobs and community welfare generally I appeal for a fair hearing for projects in this area.
That was a very convoluted answer to a very direct question. I express my total disappointment that the Minister evaded the bottom line. The president of the European Aquaculture Society, who also happens to head the Irish aquaculture industry, asked specifically whether the Minister knew that more than 600 delegates from Canada to Australia to the USSR converged on Dublin for the Aquaculture Europe '91 exhibition, at which this request was publicly made, and that his Government had named fishing and aquaculture as areas for potential job creation expansion. Does the Minister recognise that if we are to achieve job creation in such an expanding industry the least that he should do is respond to the request that that sector be represented?
I assure the Deputy that the sector is being considered very carefully. In what I have outlined there is procedure that will allow for the input of that important sector into the opportunities of further job creation, both in part-time and full-time employment. I shall give figures and tell the House about progress to date in reply to Question No. 8. Again I assure the Deputy that the procedures that are being put in place within the committee will allow that important sector to demonstrate its commitment and play its role in further job creation.
If that is so, why does the leading authority here in Ireland have to make a special public plea, to which, I am sorry to say, the Minister, his Department and the Government have not responded? If the input is as guaranteed as the Minister says, I doubt whether someone at the level of Dr. John Joyce would have made such a specific request. The refusal of direct input and representation from an expanding potential job creator such as the aquaculture industry does not speak well for the future of the task force.
As I have stated to the Deputy time and time again, the procedures allow input from the sector into positive job creation in this important industry. I cannot comment on views expressed by others. Others are entitled to express their views, but I have given the facts of the situation and I will prove those facts when replying to Question No. 8 by giving statistics on job creation both in relation to part-time and full-time employment.
We must now proceed to other questions, the time available to us for dealing with priority questions having been exhausted.
