Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I will add to the points that have already been made. My big concern is that the marine environment is an enormous area that some people stand to potentially make a lot of money out of. Let us call a spade a spade. There were some disastrous mistakes made on land with planning and development, where money had a disproportionate, sometimes corrupt, influence on planning and development on land.

There were many dire consequences of that. It contributed to arguably the greatest economic crash the country has ever seen, as well as the disastrous austerity that followed and the housing crisis we face today. We could go through the disastrous consequences of letting money dictate what went on, in planning and development terms, in respect of land. The potential for that to be replicated at sea is significant. The vested interests are lining up and are so far ahead of the public in their working to further their interests in order to make money from the marine environment. As a result, we have to tip the scales greatly in favour of the general public and stakeholders that do not have the resources large corporations and big industry have to pursue their own commercial interests.

When we talk about coastal development, the people who have a guardianship role are, self-evidently, the coastal communities that immediately adjoin the area in question. I do not suggest that other people who do not immediately adjoin a particular development do not have a right - they absolutely do - but the coastal communities have a special guardianship role and that is important. It is not just that they have the right to do it; in fact, I want them to do it because I do not trust what certain interests, left to their own devices, might do without the oversight of communities that are directly affected, understand what a coastal zone and so on are and can spot what others who might not live nearby would not see. They have an especially important role in that regard. Similarly, the fishers have been there for a long time and know the marine environment. They know which marine species are operating there and the geography of the area. Moreover, they make their livelihoods from it and should have the right to continue to do so and not be impacted by other people who just want to make money from the marine environment.

It is entirely justified, therefore, to guarantee that certain people who clearly have a stake and a role in ensuring the proper and sustainable planning and development of the marine environment will have that role, notwithstanding the need to give everybody the right to have input into decisions about the marine environment.