Regional Development
Dail Éireann — 2023-11-23
============================================================

Catherine Connolly (IND), Galway West

I am delighted the Minister of State is taking this question for the west of Ireland because I know he has a particular interest. The language about start-ups and "born sustainable, born circular" is wonderful. However, the Minister of State knows that the west region has been degraded by the EU. I know there is controversy around what exactly happened but all TDs on this side of the Chamber have raised the issue repeatedly. I cannot think of anything more sustainable and born circular than the seaweed industry and the potential there that has been utterly ignored.
I will move to wool, and the possibilities for an indigenous wool industry. Other than a wool council, around which the language is woolly, that possibility is not integrated into the plan. I think of the sprat. The Government introduced a fantastic policy to ban big trawlers from fishing within six miles of the shore. That policy was, unfortunately, held at naught by the court because of a failure to consult. There are enormous possibilities in that regard. I will stay within the time limit by way of example.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-11-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:26+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-11-23