After the last contribution, I plan to be a little parochial. I am sure that I shall be forgiven for that. The arrival on the scene of the Department of the Marine was in itself a remarkable piece of progress. I recorded that in this House at the time and suggested that the establishment of the Department was progressive because it pulled together diverse strands in the whole range of nooks and crannies in the public administration body who were obstensibly dealing with the area of the marine, maritime policy and marine-related developments. The reality was that under the old system with maritime and marine matters scattered over a whole range of public service bodies, in trying to achieve progress in any area, the first difficulty that had to be faced was that of establishing who was responsible for what. There seemed to be a never ending group of public bodies that had to be addressed and dealt with before any sort of progress could be achieved in any marine related area. Happily, that has come to an end with the arrival of the Department of the Marine.
Ireland is, after all, an island nation yet our response to that fact has been quite remarkable over the generations. We have failed to see our island nation status as being anything but a problem. The reality is that that status which we enjoy is a quite remarkable advantage to be exploited, certainly to a greater degree than ever before.
It is a tragedy that in recent times such an extraordinary degree of public attention has been diverted to the rod licence issue. That issue has grabbed a ludicrous proportion of public attention and time. Opportunistic antics by the Progressive Democrats in this House last night were just one example of what I mean by grabbing the headlines for this relatively small issue. I commend Deputy McGinley for adopting what appears to be a much more rational approach and the suggestion made by that party's spokesperson that the opportunism of the Progressive Democrats was nothing other than a simple vote catching exercise before the Dáil rises for the summer recess. That appears to be a reasonable assessment of the case.
Not only was the issue handled opportunistically by certain politicians but also by certain sections of the media and I single out RTE and the programme "Morning Ireland" in this regard. Day after day, the nation was regaled with the minutiae of the so-called rod licence issue. At one time it appeared that anybody, however remotely connected with the issue, was put on that programme to give his or her views. I wonder if the same amount of air time would have been given to, perhaps, a group who were interested in arguing against the ludicrously high cost of television licences. If people stood up anywhere in this country and said that television licences are an imposition and that we are now having broadcasting beamed in from a variety of sources so that the arguments in favour of television licensing no longer hold, and that we should start cutting it out, would that argument get the same type of cover day after day if put to RTE? I somehow doubt it.
Rather than focusing on issues such as the rod licence one, we should be focusing on how the Department of the Marine can be used as a way to plough through the log-jam that for generations has impeded any real development in marine matters. We should be focusing on matters like how we develop our fish catching capacity and our capacity to process fish, to add value to it. I know that Deputy Begley dealt with some aspects of that. It is a scandal that a nation with huge marine resources should not be exploiting them. The real resource is not mythical hydrocarbon deposits under the sea but the sea itself and the fish that teem in it and the fact that we still represent one of the few areas of coastal Europe where one can actually get good, clean, quality fish. It is a scandal that we are not addressing the issue of how to add value to that resource, how to capitalise on it, how to create jobs. I know that Deputy McGinley shares an interest in these matters.
The area of aquaculture and mariculture offers us major opportunities for employment. This is the last unexplored frontier with regard to the creation of employment here. We can talk about high-tech jobs imported from time to time at huge cost in terms of industrial grants, but these jobs tend to be ephemeral. They can melt and change with the vagaries of the international market. What will not change is the demand for wholesome food and, in particular, for food from the sea. Our capacity to develop and exploit that area of aquaculture and mariculture has not been exploited and should be a matter for our attention. If radio programmes, or the media, or politicians, wish to do something constructive, surely they could focus some of their time, energy and talent on the debate in this area.
The development of Ireland's fishing fleet is another area which screams out for public attention, for public debate. We suffered a major setback — and I do not want to make a controversial political point — with the sinking of Irish Shipping. That is history. There still remains the scandal of how the families of the workers involved are still suffering. This is a difficult problem. I know that many Members on all sides of the House would wish to see that problem resolved. In the aftermath of the Irish Shipping debacle we are in the extraordinary position that, as an island nation, we must depend to a ludicrous degree on foreign-owned, foreign-flagged and foreign-manned ships to carry our exports and imports. This is an area of tremendous opportunity which has been largely and scandalously ignored.
Another area on which, I suggest, people who are seriously interested should focus attention is harbour development. There can be no doubt that many harbours require attention and there should be a coherent policy in this regard. One of the aims of the marine policy document being implemented by the Department is to pull the various and diverse strands in our marine policy together. That demands public attention and debate. If the media are seriously interested in the capacity of the nation to develop this resource, why not focus some attention and discussion on this aspect?
I mentioned shipping earlier and I want to deal with specific developments introduced by Minister Daly in the last year which have not received anything like the degree of congratulations or attention they deserve. Some years back, as a civil servant, I operated in the Department of Transport and Power, as it was then, under the terms of the old Shipping (Investment Grants) Act. It was good legislation which put some additional tonnage onto the Irish register and it meant that some additional imports and exports were carried on Irish ships. It also meant additional employment for Irish shipping workers and a tremendous amount of foreign exchange earnings for this country. It meant an increase in valuable visible exports because we were involved in trans-dealing in the Far East and other places. That all ended prematurely, including the operation of the old Shipping (Investment Grants) Act. However, this year the Minister has put in place a package of incentives in the shipping investment area that are quite unparalleled and which make Ireland one of the most attractive places in Europe — indeed, in the world — for investing cash and capital in shipping.
I have already mentioned the Shipping (Investment Grants) Act. I hope to see more resources put into that area and I am sure most Deputies share that particular concern. The Shipping (Investment Grants) Act has been used to great effect to date and I will deal with that shortly. The second major step forward which the Minister has taken has been the extension of the business expansion scheme for shipping investment and the related decision to extend the 10 per cent corporation profits tax on shipping investment profits. This package has proved to be the most imaginative ever put forward in the history of the State by any Minister with responsibility for shipping. It is an indication of the lack of generosity that stalks this land from time to time that the Minister has not received anything like his due, fair and reasonable degree of public attention and congratulations in this regard.
In the last 12 months it is not an exaggeration to say that we made more progress in shipping investment, than in the previous decade. That progress is due to Minister Daly, who earned the gratitude of the public and the congratulations of the House for his efforts. In Wicklow, Arklow Shipping have availed of the opportunity afforded by the Shipping (Investment Grants) Act and four brand new ships have been built or commissioned within the last year and put on the Irish register. The Arklow fleet has now expanded, and within the foreseeable future there will be 25 or 26 ships on the register. Employment will be provided for over 300 people and there will be great progress. If you go back two years, the prospects were gloomy. There did not seem to be anything to induce this bright, innovative and progressive young company to move in this direction, because all the pressures at that time suggested that the company should look elsewhere to register their shipping. However, because the Minister introduced this package of proposals and because he was prepared to be adventurous, to cut through red tape and to operate these proposals, a remarkable fleet is now operating out of Arklow. I want to thank the Minister for meeting Councillor John Sweeney, the chairman of the Harbour Board and myself and agreeing, after 50 years of imploring various Ministers, to make Arklow a port of registration. It was tremendous to see recently the Arklow Manor and the Arklow Marsh, two brand new vessels, coming in with “Arklow” on the bow and stern. I congratulate the Minister for making this possible.
I wish to refer briefly to marine related leisure activities. I have expressed, outside the House my incredulity at the activities of certain people in the Dún Laoghaire case. Some of them were good and well meaning, but I hope that their extraordinary attitude in regard to marine development will be changed. The developers, at my invitation, have looked at Greystones and they liked what they saw. I hope, that when the issue in Dún Laoghaire is resolved there will be a marina development in Greystones.
I should like to remind the Minister, in the most gentle manner, of the imaginative proposals before him from Arklow. He has also had proposals from Wicklow in regard to port development, and I congratulate the Minister and the Government on their decision to allow harbour development authorities to seek assistance from the European Regional Development Fund. That is progress and there are many other areas where progress should and could be recorded.
As an island nation, our maritime resources are far more extensive than our landmass. Our attitude towards the sea has been wrong because it has been based on mythology and has been negative. For generations we have failed miserably to grasp the opportunities offered by the sea and by our island status. Under this Minister I am sure we are beginning to grasp those opportunities.