Agriculture Committee to meet mussel fishermen over Supreme Court judgement

The agenda for the meeting is as follows:
(i) 2015 Annual Report of the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority [Representatives from the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority]; and

(ii) Issues concerning the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill 2017 [Mr. Paul Barlow, Woodstown Bay Shellfish Ltd, Mr. Gerard Kelly, Fresco Seafoods Ltd and Tardrum Fisheries Ltd, Mr Michael Crowley, Riverbank Mussels Ltd and Mr Alex McCarthy, Alex McCarthy Shellfish]
Committee Chair, Pat Deering TD, said: “The first session of tomorrow’s meeting will see the Committee engage with the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority on their 2015 annual report. Members will be keen to discuss the organisation’s objectives for encouraging the fishing sector, which is a huge part of the Irish agri-food industry.”
“In the second part of our meeting we will engage with mussel and shellfish fishermen on the implications of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill 2017. This bill provides a legal basis for the voisinage agreement following a ruling of the Supreme Court in 2016.”

The Committee will meet in private at 3pm and will go into public session at approximately 4.15pm. Committee proceedings can be viewed live here.

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.