Ms Lorraine O'Donoghue:

In regard to speeding up the process, that is certainly the aim of the Bill. If one considers the length of time in which a local authority can deal with planning applications and compare it with the time taken by the Department to deal with a foreshore application, we hope the Bill will significantly improve that situation. However, I would point out that in the past two to three years there has been a dramatic improvement in the turnaround time in the Department, thanks to some internal reforms introduced.

The Deputy mentioned dumping at sea. I should have mentioned the harbours in the opening statement. It will apply equally to the national ports, smaller scale harbours and to any other body that may, for whatever reason, require the exemption for a dumping at sea permit.