Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 March 2013
107. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a decision will issue on the application by Bord Iascaigh Mhara for an aqualicence in respect of a fish farm in Galway Bay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14643/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe question concerns when I will make a decision on the application in respect of a deepwater salmon farm in Galway Bay and an aquaculture licence. We will make the decision when I have all the information. We do not have the information and I have not read the application which is going through the system, as it needs to do. The queries, concerns and objections raised during the public consultation process must be considered in full. They are being considered in full and the answer to the question is that a decision will be made when we are ready to make it. It is a complex application and we will take as long as is necessary before I receive an informed recommendation on the decision I should make for approval, non-approval or amended approval. I will wait until I have answers to the questions raised and a recommendation on my desk before I give a date for it. I suspect it will be some time yet before a decision is made.
Does that mean it will be one month?
At least. I do not know the time involved, but it will not be within weeks.
In the event that a fish farm is developed, if the licence holder is not the operator and the fish farm causes major ecological damage, will the licence holder or the operator, or both, be liable for damages if a case is taken in respect of ecological damage caused?
We are talking about something that has not happened and I presume the answer to the question lies in the contractual relationship involving an owner or a company that leases infrastructure. This is a question I cannot answer without looking at the leasing contractual relationship. I am not even sure why it is relevant to an application at this stage. We are only looking at whether it is appropriate to provide the infrastructure proposed at a particular site and on a particular scale. We must consider the application on its merits. This is my job and I will try to do it. Any implication after that will take its own course.
The national seafood programme states "the targets for increased productive capacity for salmon will now have to be deferred until after 2013 as a result of the amendments made to this Programme" until such time as the sea lice issue has been satisfactorily resolved. A senior official in the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has made it very clear that, as far as the Department is concerned, there has been no resolution of the issue. At the joint sub-committee on fisheries last week he said: "What we have suggested is an independent review of all the scientific data from both sets of stakeholders, which would allow for some level of accord among stakeholders."
The Deputy is trying to drag me into a detailed debate on issues to which I will have to give consideration in regard to a licence application which is active. I will not get dragged into that debate.
The question did not relate to any-----
I heard the Deputy's question.
It was related to a general moratorium.
The Deputy does not have to repeat the question.
I asked the Minister whether a moratorium was in place or not. The question has nothing to do with a specific application. I am talking about a general policy issue of a moratorium which the Minister's Department put in place under the seafood programme. It is a simple question. Is there a moratorium in place under the seafood programme? Perhaps the Minister might answer that question in view of the issue I have raised in the House which has nothing to do with a specific application but with the generality of the moratorium in place.
Does the Minister have an answer?
As the Minister has no answer, we will move on.
The silence says a lot.
There is no moratorium in place.
There is.
