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Foyle and Carlingford Fisheries (Northern Ireland) Order 2007

I will be very brief. I am basically in favour of the legislation, as we were in favour of creating the agency in the first place. My question is very simple. The Explanatory Memorandum states that the primary consultation on this order took place in 2000. To have an interval of seven, or six and a half years, between the consultation and bringing forth the order is unusual, even for the Northern Ireland Office. Can the Minister explain why the delay took place? I rather suspect that in this case it may have been due to the difficulty in getting our partners south of the border into line. Perhaps the Minister could elucidate.