merrion street

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney today launched a public consultation process on how to harness the potential of Ireland’s vast marine resource to tap into a Trillion Euro global market for marine products & services (including seafood, tourism, shipping, oil and gas, renewable ocean energy and new applications for health, medicine and technology).

Launching the public consultation ‘Our Ocean Wealth’, Minister Coveney said,

We need to change the way we in Ireland think about the sea and look for new opportunities to harness the potential of our 220 million acre marine resource.  This government is determined to generate the momentum to drive forward a new era of sustainable economic development across the maritime sectors – we must avail of these opportunities to assist in our recovery. We want your help to shape our plan, to shape our future and to assist in our drive towards our nation’s economic recovery.

Get informed about the issues and join the debate at

The consultation phase will be open until 31

March 2012 and it is envisaged that an Integrated Marine Plan will be published during summer 2012.