Vol. 416 No. 3
5 Mrs. Barnes asked the Minister for the Marine if he will outline the plans, if any, he has in this year's budget for increasing investment in fisheries research and development, considering that Ireland has the lowest investment in this area within the European Community; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Provision has been made under my Department's Vote for 1992 for the expenditure of £2.4 million on marine research and development. This represents an increase of 140 per cent over 1991 expenditure in the area and reflects the funding provision this year for my Department's measures under the marine sub-programme of the STRIDE — Science and Technology for Regional Innovation and Development in Europe — operational programme for Ireland. The expenditure is being 75 per cent funded by the European Regional Development Fund.
As the Deputy is aware, the STRIDE programme for Ireland gives particular, and very welcome, recognition to marine research and development and will allow for a total investment of £8 million in the area over the next two years. The agreement of the EC to co-finance marine investment under the programme is a recognition of the development potential as well as the acknowledged need to apply additional resources to secure and develop that potential. The planned total investment under the marine sub-programme of STRIDE addresses the need to build up national capability in marine science and technology which will underpin further development in the sector, including the fisheries and aquaculture sector.
My Department's expenditure measures under the STRIDE programme fall under three main headings: (1) investment in the Department's fisheries research centre to provide essential equipment to support the fishing and aquaculture industries; (2) the establishment and equipping of a marine data centre under the Department's aegis as a national centre for a marine data management and (3) investment in the marine research vessel Lough Beltra to provide specialised equipment for the national marine research vessel.
In addition to the measures directly applicable to my Department's research and development effort, the STRIDE programme includes funding in other centres of marine expertise as follows: (1) investment in the Martin Ryan marine science institute at UCG to fit out laboratories and facilities with a full range of oceanographic equipment; (2) investment in the coastal engineering and resource management centre at UCC to equip the hydraulics laboratory and coastal management unit to European standards.
I am certain that this structural investment over the next two years in key areas of marine expertise will strongly support research and development in the fisheries sector and will contribute to its continued development.
I would stress that the funding now being made available through the STRIDE programme will complement existing expenditure which my Department already commits to (1) fish stock assessment and research; (2) fish pathology; (3) aquaculture monitoring and research and (4) water chemistry. Under my departmental Vote for 1992, in addition to funding under STRIDE, the fisheries research centre has an allocation of £750,000 from which a wide range of activities under these headings are funded. While available resources in terms of both staff and facilities have been deployed to maximum benefit up to now the welcome additional investment through STRIDE will greatly assist the objective of enhancing and underpinning activites in the fisheries sector.
Would the Minister agree that it is scandalous that there has been a lack of investment in marine research and development over the years? At 2.3 per cent of the total Government budget for research in all fields, it is one of the lowest in the European Community. Can the Minister say if most of the investment for this year will be directed to the marine institute and when data on research will come on stream to help us fight our case in Europe and underpin development in Ireland?
I do not have specific information on when data will come on stream given that the centre is only being set up at this stage. I agree with the Deputy when she says that there has been a lack of research and that this data should underpin the development which we know is possible in the fisheries and aquaculture industries in developing and marketing new products to which we referred earlier. If we do not have technology of a sufficiently high standard in competing internationally we cannot expect to win markets and outlets and hold on to them. I agree with what the Deputy has to say in that regard but that will be one of the benefits to be gained under the STRIDE programme. Indeed, the fisheries industry has done particularly well under that programme by comparison with any other sector. The other sectors covered under the programme are the environment, forestry and food in general. The amount allocated to the marine is by far the greatest. A total of 10.6 million ECUs has been allocated to the marine, 4.4 million ECUs to the environment, 1.33 million ECUs to forestry and 0.88 million ECUs to food in general. As the Deputy can see, there is a heavy emphasis in the programme on marine research.
I call on Deputy Barnes for a brief question.
On a point of order, may I draw your attention to the fact that priority questions have now run for 19 minutes?
Do not be nasty.
I am allowing the question that I called to be completed; that I think is a courtesy due to this House.
He is trying to throw sand in your eyes, a Cheann Comhairle.
I am sure Deputy Garland would agree, philosophically, with what we are trying to pursue. In welcoming this investment, late though it is, which will be of great help to the fishing industry may I ask the Minister if he can give us any indication when the data will be processed to underpin development in the industry? It is not just a question of producing data it is a matter of how quickly we can put it to use.
That is a separate question. The centre is only being set up at this stage. I will be very anxious that this data is put to use at the earliest possible date. I will pursue that matter further for the Deputy later.
We must now proceed to other questions.
I would ask that Question No. 6 in my name be withdrawn. I am very disappointed that it has not been reached and I would like to re-submit it for oral answers. I would ask the Minister to ask his civil servants to cut down on the length of replies to priority questions in future. By reading out four page replies we will not get through all questions.
I feel sure that Deputy Yates's request will be acceded to by my office. Question No. 7, please.
I do not think there was any four page reply.
The last one.
That did not go to four pages; it went to three.
If we divide 15 minutes by five we will have three minutes per question.
In any event, the Deputy asked it this morning during the course of the debate on Report Stage when he was given an opportunity and licence to expand on it.
