Vol. 508 No. 3
143 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Fingal County Council has allocated a coastal site to the Irish Seal Sanctuary (details supplied); if he will make funds available to the organisation to enable it to develop the coastal site which the council has provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18655/99]
147 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Ireland is the only EU nation without a national seal sanctuary; and if he will make Government support available for such a project. [18981/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 143 and 147 together.
Seals are a protected wildlife species under the terms of the Wildlife Acts which are the responsibility of my colleague the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands. While I have, therefore, no direct function in relation to the funding of the Irish seal sanctuary I will bring the present funding needs of the sanctuary to the attention of the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands. As indicated in previous answers to questions on this matter I should add that the marine institute has ongoing contacts with the Irish seal sanctuary and facilitates access to its programmes where appropriate.
