Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I know the Deputy appreciates this area, as do others in this House, and he knows the waters of the south-west coast of Ireland pretty well, some of which need to be protected. The Government is committed to this. I have been told that drafting is under way. It is being prioritised and is scheduled to be published this session. It is a complex area though and is not as straightforward as it might sound but the Government is committed to that 30% figure, which is a very significant body of water. When you think about the scale of Ireland's sovereign territory, our sea surface is approximately nine times what our land surface is and we are talking about making 30% of that area a marine protection area and 10% highly protected. It is an important piece of work. We are committed to doing it to protect our marine ecosystems and I hope we will see that Bill published this term.

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