Mr. Conor McCabe:

I thank Mr. Woolley. I would like to make two more points, one of which is on the marine protected areas, as the Deputy mentioned again. It would probably be worthwhile for the committee to invite those in those responsible for marine protected areas to appear before it at some stage to get their take on it and finalise their plan. I really cannot speak on their behalf on this only to point to the ongoing public consultation.

The second point is to amplify what Mr. Woolley said about the spatial designation process. When I appeared before the committee prior to Christmas regarding what is now called the maritime area planning Bill, we discussed strategic marine activity zones. That has changed somewhat. We have reflected on what the committee had to say about issues like that. Our thinking in discussions across government is that those are now changing to designated maritime area plans, DMAP, and will be referred to when the Bill comes to the committee in the next few weeks. They will be more focused on the plan itself as opposed to the zone they are in. Our thinking was that a zone is not anything without a plan for that area. The plan itself then will have full public participation at every level, both at proposal level and ahead of any plan being finalised. The Oireachtas will be the proper body for approving those final plans each time.

The draft copy of this final version of the NMPF, which members have received, did not contain maps. Each chapter, however, has a number of detailed maps that are related to the activity that chapter is about, which display what is happening and where around the coast. We are also developing a tool that will be launched later in the summer, however, called the marine special planning digital tool. I am going to invite my colleague, Ms Fitzpatrick, to discuss that now. This will be a public-facing spatial tool in the format of Myplan.ie but for the sea, which will allow users to see what is happening and where. That is something we are going to build on over the next decade to include as much, if not all, marine activities in order that all end users and the public can have a visual display of what is going on around the maritime area. Ms Fitzpatrick might want to talk us through that. I believe it might be of benefit to the members.