Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have three more hours today so I hope the Chairman can indulge me. Six years is a long time and one of the big issues with the marine planning framework arises because we did not have either the designation or even notional designations of the marine protected areas, MPAs. When that legislation comes through there will be a beginning of the process of designation of the MPAs. A commitment was previously given that before we even have the formal review of the marine planning framework, the outworking of the MPA designations could be kind of reverse-engineered into the framework. Will the Minister of State give us a reassurance we will not have to wait either three, four, five or six years? The marine planning framework was described as a living document and it will constantly evolve to take into account developments such as designation or even some of the interim protection measures that this committee recommended in the pre-legislative scrutiny report.