Conor D McGuinness on Traditional Seaweed Harvester Registration
Conor D McGuinness questions officials about the difficulty traditional seaweed harvesters face when trying to register folios with Táil Éireann. He pressed for an assessment, engagement with Táil Éireann and a methodology to capture those who have tried but been unable to record their rights.
Background and remit
Conor D McGuinness opened the committee session by recalling correspondence from Deputy Mairead Farrell and ongoing disquiet on the west coast over the status of traditional seaweed harvesters. He set out concerns about how historic, orally-transmitted rights are treated by a registration system that requires documentary proof.
Proof and practical barriers
McGuinness highlighted that many harvesters may lack documentation or that records were never correctly made, making it hard to register a folio. He asked officials whether the assessment would include engagement with Táil Éireann to develop an approach for those with legitimate but hard-to-prove claims.
Data gaps and oversight
Members sought figures on how many harvesters have registered or have failed to register. Officials said those figures are not currently available but that they could pursue numbers through engagement with Táil Éireann and seek a methodology to capture honest attempts to register.
Timeline and legislative links
On timing, McGuinness was told that a firm timeline is not possible now because the issue crosses multiple policy areas and depends on the vehicle chosen to progress changes, including elements of the MAP Bill and the Marine Planning Policy Statement. He pressed for clarity on when a timeline for a timeline might be deliverable.
Implications
McGuinness urged that any assessment explicitly include measures to ensure oversight, capture those who have tried to register but could not, and reflect the particular status of traditional seaweed harvesters when implementing marine planning and legislative changes.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
I have a number of questions as well. I suppose this process, and this is the second meeting, this process began back in February when this committee received correspondence from Deputy Moriarty Farrell, seeking that the committee would examine this issue, and that's on foot with a lot of disquiet along the west coast in particular, with regard to the status and situation of traditional seaweed harvesters. I have certainly learned a lot over the last number of months about this issue, from Rayden and others, from witnesses here as well, and from the discussion today. One of the issues that occurs to me that there seems to be difficulty is that it can be quite difficult for some traditional harvesters to prove their claim. There is, of course, a burden of proof on them in terms to register a folio with Táil Éireann, but some of them might not have access to documentation, it might not have been recorded correctly in the first instance, I don't know, or may have, with the passage of time, and by nature of these being traditional rights, I suppose, to harvest seaweed, what regard has been given to that particular difficulty in terms of designing the process here? Thanks, Cahirleach. The onus to register does rest with the harvester, and they have to register with Táil Éireann. That isn't an agency that falls within the remit of this department, but certainly, through the assessment process, we could discuss with Táil Éireann that process and to see if there is an approach that could be developed, or if there's some level of engagement they could have with traditional harvesters, but I think it's first and foremost for Táil Éireann to consider that, I suppose, but we can certainly, through our assessment, discuss with Táil Éireann and see if there's an approach that could be developed. Thank you. I think that would be really useful, and I would ask that you would ensure that that forms part of that assessment and part of that engagement with Táil Éireann. I am aware that, for some people, as I mentioned, it's just proving difficult for various reasons and many of them kind of individual reasons relating to those people and to how those rights came about and were transferred down over years. Again, this may be one that you don't have information to hand, but do you know how many people have been able to register a folio and thereby record their rights, and are you aware of how many people have tried to or sought to, but have been unable to do it? Are those figures available? No, sorry, they are not available to us at the moment, but again, we can, in an engagement with Táil Éireann, we can certainly see if we can come to a figure on that in terms of people that haven't been able to register. I think that's, you know, I'm not sure we'll be able to get to a figure on that particular one, but those that have registered, it might be possible. And I totally understand that to measure, I suppose people who haven't been able to register can prove difficult no matter what kind of system one is administering, but I think it would be worthwhile as part of that assessment and that engagement with Táil Éireann to arrive at a methodology that would allow you to capture those who have made an honest attempt to register but have been unable to, at least so that there would be eyes on, there would be a level of oversight and a level of knowledge, because I think that may be an issue that will affect a good proportion of traditional seaweed harvesters. A number of members have asked around the timeline, and I've heard the response that it's not possible to provide a timeline at this stage, and that's understandable, but perhaps you could explain some of the difficulties with arriving at a timeline, and if there is, not to be Jesuitical, but if there is a timeline for arriving at a timeline, have you a sense of when you may be able to deliver some certainty on that, please? Thank you. In terms of the timeline, I suppose there's, this is an area that's quite complex and it's going to require, I think personally, a considerable level of assessment. There's a lot of moving parts, there's a lot of policy areas across a range of different departments, and as I said to Deputy Maxwell, there are a number, I suppose, of active areas in terms of policy and making of legislation through the general scheme of the MAP Bill. And I think it'll be, we'll need to identify the appropriate vehicle, I suppose, to progress. There will be, I suppose there will be timelines associated with the various elements that the Bill will go through within a certain window, and implementation of the Marine Planning Policy Statement then as well. So depending on the approach that's taken, we'll be in a position then to determine a timeline.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
