IRISH GOVERNMENT SAY THEY WILL NOT RESCIND THE LICENCE ISSUED FOR HARVESTING NATIVE KELP IN BANTRY.

Deirdre Fitzgerald

Bantry, Ireland

9 MAY 2017 — This evening our Government and FG Minister Simon Coveney, Dept of Housing said they will NOT rescind the licence issued BioAtlantis to harvest 1860 acres of native kelp in Bantry Bay. They have ignored the 4,000 people who signed the petition, they have ignored the concerns of people whose livelihood may be adverserely affected i.e. those working in Tourism and Fishing. A spokeman for Minister Coveney acknowledges that the licence was not advertised correctly but they will monitor this for future applications to mechanically harvest native kelp in Ireland.

Bantry Bay will now be the trial for Ireland on mechanical kelp harvesting. If there is a negative impact on the ecology of our bay or coastal erosion occurs, they will amend future licencing to reflect this. We are devastated that our Government has disregarded so many concerned citizens of Bantry Bay.

We would like to thank Michael Collins, Ind. T.D. who took on the concerns of us here in Bantry Bay. We would like to thank everyone who signed/shared the petition, all who independently wrote to the Minister and any other action you took to support our plight here in Bantry Bay.

We will now have to examine how we go forward to address this issue.

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