Ms Juliet Fitzpatrick:

I will speak on the digital tool. There are two stages to this digital tool. The initial one will, as Mr. McCabe and Mr. Woolley have mentioned, be based on the maps that are in the national marine planning framework. The maps are physical items in the NMPF, which are static and will not change. As the maps are updated, we will update them on the digital tool, so that the public can access it and see anything that has changed. One will be able to use the digital tool, draw a polygon shape over whatever area one is interested in, and it will identify what maps and layers in the policies are relevant to that area. Planners will also be able to look at that.

We plan to develop the tool, as Mr. McCabe mentioned, from what it will be this summer to what it will be in a year or two. It will be integrated across the board and it will be open to all Departments and all local authorities. We will eventually use one centralised application so that it reduces duplication across the board. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked about the maps on it. Some of the changes relate to ports, harbours and shipping, as Mr. Woolley mentioned. It was suggested to us that we might look to put that in. The public feedback has been good, as has the feedback from our stakeholders' advisory group.

We asked the Marine Institute to read the legislation about ports and harbour districts, come up with some grid reference points for those, go to the various ports and ensure that what it had was accurate. We now have a new map which will show those limitations. We are also open to any other sectors that have maps of interest that want to come to us and tell us what they are. Once they are verified, we can put them on the tool. It is all open data, so it is open to anyone who has a system to download this data, very much like one currently can on the Department's open data website. It covers sectoral interests and hobby interests, so if someone wants to go surfing and wants to know where the best place to do it is, he or she will be able to use this tool.

We want all of Ireland to use our tool as the first place for this. It is not just governmental institutions that should be doing this, but everybody, which is what we want here. If one wants to see all the shipwrecks around Ireland, it is really interesting to look at, and one will be able to see all of those shipwrecks. As marine protected areas come on stream, we will be able to update this map. It will be up to date. Once the plan is printed, it does not change, but the idea with the digital tool is that it will be innovative and will be there for the public, developers and planners to use. We hope that it will be simple, intuitive and easy for people to use. At the next consultation, we will look for more input about what else we can put into the tool. Development will go on further. We will have the Twitter feed and email address on it so that people can contact us with anything that they feel would be relevant. We are happy to look at anything like that.