asked the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry the measures, if any, the Government intend to take to promote the development of a fish processing industry in this country.

There has already been significant development of the fish processing industry in this country, particularly in the past five years, during which period 152 projects with a total fixed asset investment of £36.4 million were approved for State aid amounting to £10.3 million. It is the policy of the Government to encourage and promote the continued development of the industry in every way possible.

Will the Minister agree that in 1984 we exported 90,000 tonnes of chilled or frozen fish worth approximately £39 million? Is the Minister aware that had this 90,000 tonnes of fish been processed to the consumer stage, it would have added approximately £2,000 per tonne to the value which would have amounted to £150 million or £160 million, in addition to all the jobs that would have been created?

A large quantity of unprocessed fish was exported but the market trends demanded this. There is no sense in processing fish if we have not the market for them. I am more interested in getting the markets right first and then processing can follow. We are concentrating on getting the markets right at the moment.

Surely the Minister is aware that we imported £40 million of processed fish and that there is a market here for processed fish although other nations can market their frozen fish here and in Britain. Why can we not market processed fish?

It is incorrect that we imported £40 million worth of processed fish. The figure is £23 million worth. That is made up of fish fingers and that type of product ——

What is wrong with fish fingers?

——which are not produced here.

Why not? That is the point.

I cannot talk for the private sectore but numerous firms have attempted to make fish fingers and failed. I cannot answer for the private sector.

It is the Minister's job.

Is the Minister aware that at a recent ANUGA food fair in Germany there were 14 halls of food on exhibition and one large hall showed huge quantities of processed fish and all the fish had been caught in Irish waters and exported? What action do the Minister's Department propose to take to correct this situation? We are exporting all of our raw materials instead of having the added value that would accrue were it processed at home.

I accept that the marketing of fish was somewhat neglected over the last number of years. I have attempted to rectify that situation but it cannot be done overnight. In respect of processed fish, there is no point in processing the fish unless we have the markets available. In respect of the query by Deputy O'Keeffe about raw material being bought in Ireland and processed in other countries, that is happening but there is little we can do about it. It is better to have it bought here and processed in other countries than have it dumped in the sea. The amount of herrings dumped in 1981-82 was somewhere in the region of 9,000 or 10,000 tonnes.