SALMON farmers have welcomed a commitment to introduce legislation on fish farm licences within the first three weeks of the next Dail session.
The commitment was given by the Minister of State at the Department of the Marine, Mr Eamon Gilmore, at the annual conference of the Irish Salmon Growers' Association (ISGA) in Galway on Saturday.
He said the legislation would replace the present aquaculture licensing system and strengthen provisions to tackle unauthorised developments. Penalties for those who break the terms of their licences will also be strengthened.
Applicants or third parties will be given the opportunity to appeal licence decisions to a new appeals board. A four month time limit for the processing of licence applications will also be introduced in a move designed to appease frustration over delays.
Procedures for granting fish farm licences have sparked controversy in recent years. They have been criticised as bureaucratic by fish farmers and secretive and undemocratic by conservationists.
The new legislation has been given added urgency by a Supreme Court decision in August. The court found that a former Minister for the Marine, Mr Brendan Daly, should not have granted a licence to a controversial fish farm project in Ballyvaughan, Co Clare, under legislation enacted in 1959.
The ISGA chairman, Mr Gerry Paterson, said fish farmers had campaigned for three years for the new legislation. The industry had the potential to increase production from 15,000 tonnes to 30,000 tonnes over the next five years and increase export earnings from £40 million a year to more than £100 million.
"However while the industry has the will, the skills and the investment potential to achieve these aims, we can hardly plan properly for the next growing season in the absence of a solid legal basis for new licensing in aquaculture," he said.
"We have asked for a more transparent and less bureaucratic application system. We also want an appeals mechanism in which both local communities environmental interests and salmon farmers have complete confidence. Crucially, we want a law which recognises the huge strides the Irish industry has made in production techniques and efficiencies.
"Ours is an industry with huge employment potential in peripheral areas and one which has proved its credentials on the world market and in relation to environmental concerns. It is a source of great disappointment and frustration that our development has been held back by a lack of progress at Government level. Minister Gilmore and his Department must ensure that no further delays are allowed," he said.