Relocations The Government's decision to decentralise the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources from Dublin to Cavan has been greeted with dismay and amazement by the fishing industry.
Mr Lorcan Ó Cinnéide, chief executive of the Irish Fish Producers' Organisation, said that while the news might be very good for Cavan, the choice of location was "symptomatic of a complete lack of thought in relation to the marine aspects of this Department".
"I'd rather see the Department in Belmullet - at least that is a coastal area," Mr Ó Cinnéide added. Mr Jason Whooley of the Irish South and West Fishermen's Organisation, based in Castletownbere, Co Cork, said that he was "amazed".
"From Castletownbere to Dublin is trek enough, but this will make it impossible for us in terms of travelling to meetings with the Department," Mr Whooley said.
"I could see the relevance of a move to a coastal area, but I cannot see the logic. Obviously it is very good for Cavan."
The decision comes just over a year after the new administration tried to drop the marine portfolio from the Cabinet line-up.
It was subsequently restored in the amalgamated Communications and Natural Resources brief given to Mr Dermot Ahern.
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