I was speaking about the kind of operation this Marine Institute could be involved in and, in particular, the question of trawler size. This also means the Marine Institute ought to look at the kind of ships we should build, the kind of machinery we use, the kind of companies we have for developing and building ships. We should be involved in the whole question of pollution research. Perhaps the Minister would consider some degree of direction not, of course, dictation, a little application perhaps to this new Marine Institute. They should consider a hobby horse of mine, that is, the fact that, as human beings, we are among the single greatest force in terms of impact on the marine environment.
I do not wish to be unwittingly repellant to anybody in the House, but it is a fact that an enormous tonnage of human sewage is deposited in the sea around our shores by an antiquated sewage disposal system. This is very largely still what is termed raw sewage. I am sure it has not escaped the Minister's notice that our neighbouring island has given a commitment to phase out putting raw sewage into the seas over a ten year period. I wonder if we will make any parallel commitment?
Will the Minister suggest to the Marine Institute that they investigate the possibility that there is a very convenient coincidence of location in this city of Dublin between one of the principal sewage outfall works and the electricity generating station. Would the Minister not agree with me that it would be far better if we were to collect this resource at that point at Ringsend and treat it as other countries do so that it may be reclaimed as energy in terms of the various gases for heating and the solids retained for fertiliser purposes. This is done in other countries. It would mean that we would not only clean up our seas, make our bathing places far more attractive and less dangerous to the many families who enjoy the facilities of our beaches through the summer months and would also provide a resource in terms of heating. I acknowledge this would require an investment. Here, again, the Marine Institute could intervene. One of the things they could do, in co-operation with universities, might be to construct a mathematical model of the economic impact which I believe as a layman would demonstate that such a programme would have an economic value for the country over a ten year period.
One of the principal reasons I welcome the establishment of the Marine Institute is because it may place this kind of area of concern outside the realm of immediate party politics. What I am suggesting only really allows its benefits to come onstream over an extended period. I do not wish to be cynical but it is noticeable, as an Independent politician and as an observer of the political scene over many years, that most political parties are only interested in something that produces dividends within about three years so that they can collect on their investment and draw the attention of the voting public to this in the run-up to an election.
There are, of course, a myriad of resources in the sea not just the fish. Again, I worry when I see in fishmonger shops such strange fish on the slab because it tells me that very often they must be going into areas where they never went before. They are obviously not producing what they think the consumer requires so they must be hoovering up species that were never touched before by the ever-extending range of their trawlers
It is not just fish, it is also mineral resources. There are ordinary everyday minerals that are immensely valuable to any economy, such as sand and gravel. I presume that the institute will look at this, will determine where these resources lie, where they can be most easily extracted, where it is most financially viable to extract them and also look at the other range of sometimes rare minerals and minerals such as molybdinum that may exist in the seabed surrounding this country. I am old enough, even if the Minister may not be, to remember 15 or 20 years ago when the late Howard Hughes was sending his glomar explorer round this neck of the woods. I am sure the Minister will agree with me that Howard Hughes was a pretty canny animal and if the glomar explorer was out vacuming specimens of the shores of this island there is a pretty good possibility that there is something there, of which Mr. Hughes, with his notorious nose for profitability, had some suspicion. I would like, as a good socialist — I know socialism is not popular these days but it will be back — to feel that these resources would not be exploited on behalf of all the people of Ireland. It is also important that this institute gives advice as to how any such exploration and retrieval of minerals — of course the obvious ones are oil and gas — can be done with the minimum damage to the sources we have in terms of animal and marine life.
There are one or two further comments I wish to make, if I may, about particular features such as the whole question of acquaculture. This is very important. The Taoiseach has repeatedly said this is an area where we can make significant economic progress, that will pay dividends not just in terms of money but also in terms of jobs, I agree wholeheartedly with him. This time last year I was lecturing in Yale University and my host was a graduate from Trinity College, who is on the staff in Yale. He had invested in the north western corner of this island, partly out of scientific curiosity and partly out of patriotism, in a small aquaculture programme. It is, in fact, now giving some reasonable return in terms of employment and of profitability for the area. I believe it is very important that these kinds of ventures are supported with the resources of the State.
Of course we have got to watch the impact of these things. There has recently been some controversy about precisely the impact of fish farming in the kind of open sea containers and the difficulties of introducing particular strains of fish which may be subject to specialised forms of disease. I am not competent to talk about this but I presume the Minister will be suggesting to the institute that they look into this possibility.
I hope that the food aspect in its commercial sense, in terms of exporting, will be looked at, I would like again to place on the record some small experience of my own, when I was for a brief and inglorious period a restaurant correspondent of a Sunday newspaper in this city. I had occasion to go to a very fine restaurant in the centre of the city when I commented particularly on soused herrings. This may sound a very humble item but I discussed it with the owner of the restaurant. He told me a tale of disappointment and frustration; a year prior to my visit a Japanese businessman had come into the restaurant, had eaten the soused herrings and said, like myself, they were the most delicious things he had ever eaten. He arranged to have these Irish soused herrings imported into Japan but the Japanese have extremely strict regulations with regard to the method by which it is done. This man very meticulously established precisely what the Japanese wanted but the factory he engaged to assist him took a short cut and was discovered at the other end and the entire contract was aborted. Investment was wasted, the opportunity was destroyed and — probably the most important thing — the reputation of every other person involved in this area from this part of Europe was threatened and the possibility of this export industry being developed was marginalised. That is very unfortunate. I presume it will be one of the responsibilities of the institute to look at this kind of thing.
Most people now accept the fact that we live in a global village, that we are all interdependent and that we should not be just selfishly interested in our own resources, our own fate. The Minister, I am sure, will have noticed the fact that a very rare species of turtle — rare, at least for this part of the world — was washed up recently on our shores and was revived and painstakingly returned to its home waters off Mexico. In Mexico the turtle is already under threat of extinction because it is being hacked to death, butchered in masses by the peasants of the coastal villages of certain sections of Mexico because of the appetite of the Japanese fashion industry for handbags, shoes and other accessories made from the skin of this gentle and inoffensive animal. I hope this institute will enable Irish representatives and international oceanographic conferences to make a plea for some degree of concern, of interest, for the welfare of species other than man. This gross and disgusting exploitation by cruelty and greed of fellow-creatures on this planet is a very bad sign for the values we have in this society.
I would like to make a final point. I started out by welcoming the Bill but saying that there was some areas of vagueness. I would like to end by saying that one of the areas of vagueness was delicately hinted upon by many of the speakers here this afternoon who had some special interest in the question of the location of the institute. A number of people felt it would be most appropriately located in their particular area. This is a judgment of Solomon. I do not envy the Minister. But I would like to say this, and demonstrate my altruism in so doing, that I believe this presents a golden opportunity for the Minister to demonstrate the Government's commitment to a policy of decentralisation. There are already quite enough institutes and academic resources and industrial plants in this capital city of ours. I believe it is time some of these important areas of our civil life were moved to other parts of the country. If the Minister can give an undertaking that this will be located in an area of our coast which is not Dublin, I certainly will not cavil at his decision from a parochial point of view.
