Marine: Fine Gael and Labour have accused the Government of showing no interest in the State's marine resource, following cutbacks in this week's Estimates for the marine sector.
The Fine Gael marine spokesman, Mr Simon Coveney, said the figures confirmed that the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Ahern, "treats the value of our marine assets with disdain".
The Labour Party spokesman, Mr Tommy Broughan, said: "The savage cutback of 24 per cent in marine safety, shipping, harbours and tourism shows a blatant disregard by Minister Ahern for the needs and problems of our coastal zone."
The Minister has defended the Estimates and pointed out that some of the cuts were "not cast in stone" and could be revisited in the revised Estimates in January.
A 17 per cent cut in funding for the national seabed survey is due to the fact that the survey is coming to a close, the Minister said.
The Marine Institute's budget has been cut by 4 per cent, while the allocation for Bord Iascaigh Mhara has been increased.
