asked the Minister for the Marine if his attention has been drawn to the fact that a recent report stated that his Department have sanctioned the establishment of a 700 ton annual production capacity salmon farm adjacent to the Aran Islands, County Galway which is financed by Norwegian interests; and if the supply of smolts for this farm will be imported from Norway or supplied by local sources.

The fish farming project off the coast of Inis Oirr was sanctioned by my predecessor in 1986.

In the event that imports should be required in this case, imports from Norway would not arise as it is departmental policy only to allow imports of atlantic salmon smolts.

My Department's policy is to encourage the production of high quality salmon smolts in Ireland to meet the demands of projects such as this one and to avoid having to import live smolts.