State agencies will pool resources and expertise in a new initiative to encourage marine enterprise on the west coast.
Research which never quite makes it from the laboratory to the market will also get a boost under the initiative, which was outlined by the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Fahey, in Galway yesterday.
The Marine Enterprise Investment Programme (MEIP) will be introduced first in a pilot region stretching from Donegal to Kerry. Although it has no funds of its own, it will steer entrepreneurs in the direction of seed capital and business advice.
The initiative has been drawn up by the Marine Institute, which has identified marine food, water-based tourism and leisure, seaweed-based industry, ocean energy, shipping and boating, offshore industry, and ocean engineering, instrumentation and technology as priorities for further development. The "one-stop shop" approach of the new MEIP aims to avoid duplication of resources, expertise and effort.
Two programme managers, based in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, and Tralee, Co Kerry, respectively will drive the initiative, and will cultivate strong links between the State agencies and higher-level institutions.
Speaking at yesterday's function, which was attended by a broad range of industry representatives, including technical experts from Harland & Wolff Shipyard in Belfast, the Minister said he was keen to link up third-level institutions working in the marine area in "a more structured way".
The key development agencies include Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), Udaras na Gaeltachta, Shannon Development, the Western Development Commission, Enterprise Ireland, Donegal County Enterprise Board, Donegal County Council, the Letter kenny Institute of Technology and the Institute of Technology, Tralee, Co Kerry.
Welcoming the co-operative approach, Mr Fahey said new businesses needed a strong foundation, and Ireland's 220-million-acre marine resource would provide this.
He said the level of activity within the marine area was the best-kept secret in the State, and it was time to tell Irish people they lived on a coastline rather than in a country. He had been unaware of the extent of activity and the potential for more until he had taken over the marine portfolio in January.
"If ever there was a tragedy, it was the way we negotiated entry to the European Union," the Minister said, referring to the EU accession deal in relation to fisheries. "No blame to those responsible - we didn't know any better," he said, but he looked forward to "a most exciting future".
The Minister appealed to Irish financial institutions to look more seriously at the marine sector than hitherto, and said he was pleased to see that a consortium of Irish banks had been involved in funding the £50 million supertrawler constructed in Norway for the Killybegs fisherman, Mr Kevin McHugh.
It was important to place emphasis now on added value for marine food, the Minister said, and the MEIP represented one more step in the development of an exciting industry. The National Development Plan has earmarked £25 million for seafood processing, and the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources is carrying out a strategic review of the sector.
In the light of this, more than 100 key players and two expert contributors from Canada and Germany will participate in a workshop hosted by the Western Development Commission on developing secondary seafood-processing, which will be held in Sligo next Wednesday.
