Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 are related and may be discussed together.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 1:

In page 3, lines 9 to 11, to delete all words from and including “to” in line 9 down to and including “1997” in line 11 and substitute the following:

“to amend the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1997 as regards the holding of office of Chairperson or member of the Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board”.

I thank the Deputies for their engagement on Committee Stage. This amendment contains a proposal to introduce a minor amendment to the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1997. Amendment No. 2 provides for the deletion of section 24(3) of that Act in order to remove an existing requirement that the chair and members of the Aquaculture Licensing Appeals Board vacate their membership on reaching 70 years of age. Having regard to the effect of this provision and taking into account the observations of the Department of public expenditure, it is necessary to ensure alignment with the code of practice relating to governance for State bodies and amend section 24(1) of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1997 in order to provide for the appointment of the Aquaculture Licensing Appeals Board by the Government for a fixed period not exceeding five years.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I have a list of speakers. I ask that contributions be relevant. There are two amendments. One is in relation to the Title and the other is not. I will begin with Deputy Danny Healy-Rae.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I will defer for a while because it is not exactly -----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Deputy Mattie McGrath has left. I call Deputy Micheal Healy-Rae.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I will make just one point on the extension of the age. Experience is very important in roles such as this, so there is nothing wrong with what is proposed. While the Minister is doing that and facilitating people with experience who want to stay on in important roles, which is most welcome, will he please give some consideration to those who have broken their bones throughout their lives farming and who want to retire by putting in place a proper scheme for them to do so and also a proper scheme to welcome in and encourage the new young farmers? When we are taking age into consideration, we should look at all aspects of age when it comes to farming business and rural ways of life.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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It may not be entirely relevant but everything to do with agriculture is very important. I am asking the Minister what he thinks about what went on by RTÉ last night trying to vilify a family that is exporting calves and playing a vital role in the well-being of marts around the country by bidding and competing for cattle. What is wrong? Why is RTÉ allowed do this? One Department is affecting another and trying to hurt the viability of agriculture-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Deputy.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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-----especially in our county. What RTÉ tried to do was vilify the Hallissey family. That was wrong. I have serious objections to that. What is the Minister’s view on the matter? This is very important.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I am moving on to Deputy Fitzmaurice.

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The Minister knows that the agriculture committee is sitting at the moment and that some of its members will try to be over and back between the House and the committee. To be fair to the Minister and his staff, we went through the Bill in detail. The committee had no problem with it. We welcome that people can be over 70 years of age and still able to sit on the board.

The committee went through all the parts relating to appeals. I said that they are pretty good. I have been involved in a fair few of them with farmers. The system is pretty good at the moment. I raised a point on Committee Stage - some of the officials were present for it - regarding a situation where if something happens and a farmer is waiting a long time, would it be possible for the Department to take action to deal with that. The amendments do not deal with that matter. I want to be very clear that I am not blaming anybody. Anyone can get sick or have something happen to them. Could the Minister do something in this regard in order that the outcome of an appeal would not take six, eight or nine months and the farmer involved would not be left waiting? I am just asking if it is possible for the Department to resolve matters internally without the need to amend the legislation. That is all I want to know. Other than that, I have no objections to the Bill.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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As the Minister knows, one of the big problems in the context of shellfish and Ireland reaching its full potential has been the lengthy delays in appeals going through the Aquaculture Licensing Appeals Board. Will the Minister comment on how he is going to resource this? I have no objection at all to the amendment. We do not have enough people with experience who can stay on and lend their experience. We dealt with this at the committee. It relates to fisheries. The Minister’s officials from the Department were present at the relevant meeting. The Minister will recall from his time as a member of the committee that the Faroe Islands have a population of about 30,000 or 40,000. That is the same size population as the Inishowen Peninsula, from where the Minister and I come. The Faroe Islands have a bigger shellfish industry than Ireland. That is incredible. Scotland’s industry is many times the size of Ireland's. Norway is on a different planet. We have never achieved our full potential. We are an island nation. We are surrounded by water. There is huge potential. However, it has to be done properly and with a proper appeals system. People should be able to object and matters should be looked at. The problem is, however, that it takes so damn long for this to happen, which is killing the industry. What is being done to resource the Aquaculture Licensing Appeals Board adequately in order to ensure that it makes decisions, one way or another, and resolves matters in a speedy manner?

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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I am delighted that the Bill has reached this point. I compliment the Minister on guiding it through the various Stages up to now, both in the House and at the agriculture committee. Farmers have waited a long time for this Bill. The fact that there will be far more representation on the appeals board will bring confidence that people will get a fair hearing. Some farmers can feel very aggrieved and can feel very hard done by following an inspection. Provision is made for oral appeals.

The oral appeal hearings, in general, worked well but the fact a farmer can now go to this and have farm representation and a fairly representative body will hear his case is most welcome. For many farmers, the single farm payment is their income and a significant penalty on that can have huge financial implications for farm families.

This Bill has been talked about for many a day. It is great we are finally passing it. I look forward to seeing it in operation. As public representatives, we will probably be at some of the hearings when it gets up and running, as we have been at many oral hearings in the past. This is a good Bill. It had cross-party support in the agriculture committee, which I chair. There were no dissenting voices and it was remarkable that on Committee Stage there were no amendments to the Bill the Minister brought forward. It showed the universal approval that was there for the Bill and the fact it is long awaited. I hope it will give farmers confidence they will have every opportunity to present their case to some of their peers, which is important. The Minister has delivered on this. Many others said we would get this Bill. We had it on our last manifesto and I am delighted that tonight it will be passed into law.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I will deal with Deputy Fitzmaurice's point first. We discussed it at committee the last day and it is something the appeals board looks to accommodate, but there can be circumstances when the appeals officer who took the initial hearing takes ill or is out for a period. The choice is to await the return of the appeals officer or to restart the appeal. That is something that is considered. It is possible. It does not have to be dealt with in legislation but can be accommodated in whatever way is felt most appropriate in the circumstances.

In answer to Deputy Mac Lochlainn, work is under way to make sure additional resources are brought into Aquaculture Licensing Appeals Board. I accept it has to function effectively and be staffed appropriately to do that. It needs additional staffing and that is being facilitated and pursued.

I thank Deputy Cahill for his comments and I thank him and all committee members for facilitating the Bill's passage and for the discussion at the committee the last day. It will make our appeals system an improved structure. An applicant who is not happy with a decision is provided with a recourse involving a committee and it does not rest solely with the director of the appeals office. It is a better structure. Not that anybody had any particular issue, but it is much better to have a body with a number of people on it, and that approach is being taken here. It is a programme for Government commitment to make sure our appeals system is as robust as possible. I recognise the cross-party support in the Dáil and the committee. I look forward to bringing it to the Seanad as well.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 2:

In page 15, to delete lines 6 and 7 and substitute the following:

“16. Section 24 of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1997 is amended—

(a) in subsection (1), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a): “(a) the Chairperson shall hold office for such period, not exceeding five years, as shall be specified by the Government when appointing the Chairperson, and may be re-appointed for a second or subsequent term of office, and”, and

(b) by the deletion of subsection (3).”.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputies and thank the team for putting the legislation together. I thank the director of the appeals office, Lynda O'Regan, along with Ruth Kinehan and David O'Loughlin, for their considerable work in bringing it through the five Stages in the Dáil. I look forward to going to the Seanad.