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

Okay. The Minister of State is lauding the public participation process he went through and I take him at his word at some level. I was not particularly aware of how it all went. I am not commenting on the process. The people I am speaking to, however, who have a concern in this matter do not understand how the relevant projects got slipped in on that basis to the national marine planning framework. There is much concern and anger about that. Following from that, is it the case the extended public participation in the development of marine spatial plans is done and dusted for six years?

There is serious concern about the inclusion of these relevant projects in the national marine planning framework in advance of the sort of detailed marine spatial planning we need to have in advance of major developments in the marine. That is the concern. If it were six years, a lot can happen and a lot of damage can be done in six years. Another matter of considerable concern is the potential for Ministers to walk away from public participation statements that is created by the use in the Bill of language such as "may" and changes as "considered necessary or expedient" in respect of revising statements and so on.