Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

On the point about the hierarchy in terms of acting consistently with or having regard to, it is worth noting that there is a good precedent from the Government on doing that in legislation. For example, the new section 3(3) of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill does it. I commend the Government for doing that in that Bill and recommend that it follows that good practice in this Bill. It has set a good precedent. It is very important, for the reasons that Deputy Ó Broin outlined. There can be conflicts, so setting out clearly which come first and a hierarchy for them absolutely makes sense. That would be a big improvement in the Bill. Amendments Nos. 33 and 43 are key amendments. There is no issue if they have to be cleaned up to make them technically more compliant. Bear in mind that we had quite short notice of the deadline for submitting amendments, so I would be happy to work with the Minister of State if they have to be updated or cleaned up. It is the principle of the amendments that we are trying to get across. I believe they would strengthen the Bill considerably, so I ask for that to be considered.

The Minister of State spoke about the marine planning policy statement feeding into the national marine planning framework and the marine spatial plan. Where does the Bill refer to how that feeds in or how they connect or what the relationship is? Is that explicitly set out in the Bill and where is it? If so, does that need strengthening? Perhaps, Chairman, the Minister of State will answer that question and I will then continue. What he says will relate to the rest of my questions.