My question concerns the review of the aquaculture sector which was completed and provided to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine more than a year ago. There is no implementation strategy yet or timeline for how the 30 actions contained in that review are going to be implemented, which is crucial for the development of the industry and the sector. One example is Marine Harvest, in Fanad, County Donegal, which has been waiting for seven years for an answer on an application for a license for one of its sites in Cork. Its processing site in Donegal is operating at 30% or 40% capacity. If licences could be dealt with in a more timely manner additional employment could be created but we need a timeline in which that strategy will be implemented. Can the Minister update us on whether he will put an implementation strategy in place for this sector?

I appreciate the Deputy's interest in the aquaculture sector. We conducted a review of the aquaculture licensing regime and I understand that a date was agreed with the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine for an update on the process. I can confirm that we are on track to eliminate the arrears of processing of aquaculture licences. There was a two-year timescale in which to clear the backlog, and we are well on track to deliver. We will provide a comprehensive report to the committee at some stage later this month.