Oyster farmers claim licensing and funding delays ‘risk jobs and exports’

OYSTER farmers from around the coast have claimed that sustainable jobs and exports are being put at risk by continuing Government delays in resolving licensing and funding issues.

Most of the 8,000 tonnes of Irish oysters processed annually are for export markets worth €16 million.

The sector provides 994 full and part-time jobs in the production of Gigas (Pacific) and Native (Edulis) oysters.

IFA Aquaculture executive secretary Richie Flynn said there is huge frustration in the industry with the lack of progress in opening the National Operational Programme (OP) for Aquaculture which would provide much-needed finance for re-investment in the sector.

“Every other country in the EU has opened their national programmes and the Irish sector is in serious danger of losing competitiveness and the ability to maintain jobs or create new ones in coastal communities.

“The potential in the sector is enormous and demand for Irish shellfish is growing all the time,” he said.

Mr Flynn said that what producers can’t understand is the apparent reluctance of the Departments of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food combined with those of Communications and Natural Resources and Environment to reach agreement and give the green light for the OP to go ahead.

He said a similar log-jam exists in the whole area of licensing which has caused the backlog of hundreds of licence applications over five years.

If the Government is serious about maintaining and creating employment and foreign revenue in rural areas it must immediately resolve any remaining inter-departmental issues holding up the OP and licences, he said.

Mr Flynn, speaking after an Irish Farmers Association organised meeting in Dublin, at which a range of issues were discussed with various agencies, said the sector was obviously facing many challenges at present.

But it remained optimistic about the future as long as there was clear government support for natural resource-based and sustainable industries such as aquaculture, which plays an important role in peripheral areas, he said.