Donegal's premier fishing port enters the Blue economy

The new Killybegs Marine Cluster, the first dedicated to the Blue economy, was officially launched by the Minister for Agriculture, Food a and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue TD on Monday afternoon.

The facility, which is based at the Atlantic Technological University campus on the town's Shore Road, will see commercial fishing, fish processing, marine engineering, aquaculture, renewable energies, offshore marine services and marine tourism pool their expertise to harness the potential of what was on their doorstep, the Atlantic ocean.

Marine Cluster manager, Karl Bonner said the development of the facility saying it was one of 12 in the country, part of Enterprise Ireland’s National Clustering Programme and the only one dedicated to the Blue economy.

He explained its main objectives included establishing new business development, seeking out opportunities in international markets, fostering skills and talent, and providing our members access to research, development and innovation while working closely with the industry to develop the wider ecosystem around Killybegs.

He added the Blue economy is quite broad and encompasses many industries including commercial fishing, fish processing, marine engineering, aquaculture, renewable energies, offshore marine services and marine tourism.

"The 20 member companies in the Killybegs Marine Cluster move across these seven active and identifiable marine sectors and together these businesses have a combined revenue in excess of €300 billion per annum and provide sustainable employment for more than 1,000 people throughout the entire calendar year.

He said theirs was an internationally recognised and ambitious cluster with 95% of turnover generated by its members in export markets.

Enterprise Ireland's senior regional development executive for the Mid West region, Gillian Slattery outlined the connection between Enterprise Ireland and their partners in technological universities.

President of the ATU, Dr Orla Flynn spoke of the diverse geographical spread the new university presented in serving one unique region.
"We are a region in transition and it will be part of our mission to be a vehicle for talent, to be an anchor institution and to be a connecting point from an international perspective. As we say in ATU, the future is here," she said.

Industry representative, Brian Leslie, company director, SeaQuest Systems Limited, Killybegs said he wanted to see a bit more synergy between the companies in this area to see how they can tie in with the technological university as well as training in conjunction with the Donegal Education and Training Board (ETB) and Enterprise Ireland.

In a reference to the ongoing controversy between the local fishing industry and the Department of the Marine and the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) Mr Leslie used the occasion to appeal to Minister McConalogue to "fix the weighing debacle".

Minister McConalogue said while Killybegs was undoubtedly and would continue to be a fishing town first and foremost and its harbour centre was a focal point, the diversity of the marine enterprises operating out of the town and the wider north-west had to be acknowledged too.

"Servicing fishing vessels may have been the start of the marine engineering operations here but the scope and ambition have grown beyond that over the years. Experiences like servicing the oil and gas industries, the development of skill sets, deepening knowledge and expanding mindsets of what companies have ambitions to do and develop."

He added that during his time as minister Ireland had faced unprecedented challenges such as Covid-19, Brexit and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"These challenges remind us of the necessity of having diversity factored into our economic profile. Much has been spoken of the need to reduce our dependence on imported fossil fuel and to rapidly expand our renewable energy capabilities, so I welcome the potential and possibilities that this cluster is exploring, not just for Killybegs and the north-west but as a facet of our national economy."

He added while his portfolio did not extend to investigating marine engineering operations, it did include the management of the fishery harbour centre in Killybegs and he would be happy for the cluster to find a long-term home for its plan in the centre and he would be asking his officials to explore what equipment they could offer to the cluster and maybe even invest in to help develop marine engineering projects here.

"It's my absolute commitment to work with all of you to support the immense work you have done; to support how you develop the vision; how you build up the capacity, relevance and international servicing capacity of Killybegs to go with the fishing potential, an industry that has always been at the heart of Killybegs. Everything I can do working as a minister, I certainly will," he said.