Ms Maria Graham:

There are two aspects to the legislation, one of which I did not clarify. I was talking about initial planning consent and leave to apply. It is called maritime area consent. It will fall to the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment to give consent in the functional areas included within his policy remit, including offshore renewable energy. Obviously, that allows for consistency of approach in these elements. The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government will give consent in respect of the other aspects, but aquaculture is not covered. Responsibility for it remains with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The other aspect is strategic marine activity zones. The idea is we can zone areas for a particular activity such as offshore renewables. Certainly, there are the elements which allow for priority to be given to certain activities. Clearly, the concept of co-existence is within overall marine spatial planning and includes looking at whether areas need to be zoned for particular activities or where activities can co-exist. That issue will have to be played out.

I was aware that the question of planning guidance was probably to the fore of Deputy Naughten's mind. I also have responsibility for it. I can tell the Deputy that we are very close to publication based on that agreement, to which we have remained true. The World Health Organization then came out with new noise guidelines.