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

There is a list of questions that Deputy O'Callaghan and I have asked that have not been answered. I can go back over them. I thank the Minister of State for indicating the competent authority and I thank him for that clarity.

I am not interrogating the public participation process for the national marine planning framework. I am looking at this legislation, which may outlive the Minister of State, his officials and all of us. It is therefore really important we get best practice locked into this as much as possible. I have heard the Minister of State talking about reasonable steps if there is another pandemic. Where is there guidance in the legislation to determine what a reasonable step would be to permit non-compliance with the public participation statement?

Likewise, there is mention of a Minister considering it "necessary" or "expedient" and where is that outlined or delineated? I also asked if the Minister of State could at least give us some flavour of what he expected to be in regulations. I share the concern of Deputy O'Callaghan, which he articulated much better than I did, with respect to the timeline and lead-in.

I have a further question. To what does the public participation statement apply? Will it apply just to spatial plans or will it apply to supplementary amendments or additions to the MSPs? Will it apply to the review of the national marine planning framework, etc.? The more information the Minister of State can share with us, the better for everybody.