We have run out of time for answers. I will stick to that and maybe at the end the Minister will generously use his time to reply. It will depend on whether the other slots are filled. People Before Profit-Solidarity is next and I call Deputy Boyd Barrett.

I was asked by east coast fishers to relay concerns to the Minister about the threat they see to their industry. It is currently a sustainable shellfish industry which they estimate directly and indirectly results in the employment of approximately 800 people affecting towns and coastal communities and fishers all the way up and down the east coast.

The threat they see is from plans to build industrial wind farms on sensitive sand banks. Sand banks particularly close to me are the Kish Bank and the Codling Bank. Fishers and myself would very much advocate in favour of developing renewable energy resources and using the marine potential we have to develop those resources and nobody disputes this. However, we do not think one thing should come at the expense of another.

In fact the point the fishers on the east coast make is that European law - I am not a legal expert in this area - is very clear that we cannot displace one industry with another. Where there is an industry and where people are making their livelihood and living in a particular area it is prohibited to displace them and destroy their industry and livelihood in order to make way for another industry. That is precisely what they see as coming down the line as the private corporations - they are all private corporations, most of them not even companies based in this country - are planning to put very big industrial wind farms all the way up and down the east coast on sensitive sand banks which are critical to the sustainability of the shellfish industry and fish spawning grounds. They are very sensitive sites at many levels. The Minister's concern, and the fisher's concern, is in terms of the fishing but the sites are also very sensitive environmentally. The fishers say that the private companies that are being issued licences, for example at the moment for surveys, are ultimately intending to put big industrial wind farms which will potentially see thousands of enormous wind turbines at very close proximity to our coasts and critically, from the fishers' point of view, on sand banks.

The sand banks are critical to the fishers' industry and this will destroy their industry. They are in no doubt of that and that there will be nothing left of their industry at the end of it. These things should be placed further out or on less sensitive sites. If the wind farms go on these sand banks, like the Codling, Kish and others, they will destroy their fishing industry and their livelihoods.

There is supposed to be a requirement for serious consultation between developers in these areas and those who make a living - in this case the fishers - but this is not happening. In the case of the developers on the Codling Bank they will not even meet the legal representatives of the fishers. There is no serious engagement and developers are ploughing ahead regardless of the consequences for the fishers.

The question the fishers asked me to ask the Minister is what he is doing to safeguard their industry and their livelihoods. They are watching in and are very keen to hear the Minister's response but that is what they want to know. What is the Minister doing to ensure their industry and livelihoods are not destroyed by plans to put wind turbines on these particular locations which are critical to the sustainability of their industry, their incomes and their jobs?

This is an important issue. There obviously is massive potential and it is really important to the future of our country that we develop sustainably the potential of offshore renewable energy to meet our own national need but the capacity is there to produce enough electricity for five times what we need to become a net exporter. Obviously there is great potential there which we will step out. Central to how we will do that is engaging with the fishers who currently use parts of that ground for fishing opportunities. That consultation and engagement is really important. It is something I have been focusing on as Minister with responsibility for the marine, to make sure everybody is getting pulled together and that we actively focus to make sure people are properly engaged with in regard to that.

A seafood offshore renewable energy working group has now been established with joint input from my Department as well as the Department with responsibility for housing and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Ministers, Deputy O'Brien and Deputy Eamon Ryan. That his being facilitated by Captain Robert McCabe. That is an important forum but I accept what the Deputy is saying. There have been challenges around everybody coming together and having proper line of sight. It is important that everybody does and that everybody's views get taken on board, particularly those who actually depend on these areas for their livelihoods, and that this is fully understood and accommodated.

I will add that the fishers would very much appreciate, given the complaints they are making about the failure of these companies to engage properly with their representatives, particularly in terms of the Codling Bank, that the Minister might look into that and try to ensure that engagement actually takes place and that we do not end up cutting off our nose to spite our face.

There is no reason, with floating offshore wind, we cannot put these in different locations now. We have the technology. There does not have to be a trade-off between the imperative of developing renewable energy resources and destroying existing livelihoods in industries or, for that matter, doing other things that may damage our marine and coastal environment. I hope the Minister will look into that east coast side of things because the fishers would very much appreciate it.

Does the Minister want to use the two minutes to come back on any question?

I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett for that contribution. It is an important issue, and it is important that everybody is part of that process because there is so much to do in this space, and so much potential. However, we have to respect those who have been on this largely on their own for many generations, and who depend on it for their livelihoods as well. Captain Robert McCabe is leading the co-ordination of that offshore renewable group between the three relevant Departments.

I will go back to Deputy Cairns regarding Union Hall pier. It is something she has raised previously and her colleague, Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan, was in touch specifically around facilitating a meeting between Cork County Council and my Department on how this could step out. It is also something Deputy Michael Collins has raised previously. I have allocated some funding to Union Hall over the past couple of years. However, the initial steps in stepping this out is a role for Cork County Council with regard to the design, the development of the proposal, and getting it to a position where it can be submitted to the Department for consideration under any future grant schemes.

I have been to Union Hall a number of times. I spent summer holidays there. It is a wonderful part of the country and it has a really important fishing pier, and it is important that we find ways in the future. At the moment, it is in Cork County Council's bailiwick to step that forward but my team and I will certainly have that meeting with the council to discuss it.

Is there a timeline?

There is about an eight-week period for the consultation. We will have to gather that and assess it and then step it out with regard to getting to a decision. Over the next number of months, we should get to that point.

The Deputy made the point that it is five years. This came in, and the former Minister, Deputy Michael Creed, did really good work on this. He introduced the 6 mile nautical ban for vessels over 18 m. Unfortunately, it was struck down through a legal challenge. That worked its way through the courts. The final decision from the courts came through a few months ago or so. We have then been considering how we step that out and take it forward again, and we have now commenced that process.