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

Article 9 of the MSP directive states, among other things, that "Member States shall establish means of public participation by informing all interested parties and by consulting the relevant stakeholders and authorities, and the public concerned, at an early stage in the development of maritime spatial plans". It goes on to state "Member States shall also ensure that the relevant stakeholders and authorities, and the public concerned, have access to the plans once they are finalised." That is pretty strong. Section 17(1)(a) specifies that the competent authority has to comply, or ensure compliance, with the requirements of MSP directive, but, for some odd reason, the strong statement in Article 9, which insists on a certain amount of public information, is omitted. There are other articles but Article 9, the one that is strong in the directive and which is on public participation, is omitted. While section 17 outlines that the competent authority must comply, or ensure compliance with the requirements of the directive, the section on giving effect, section 18, is a bit wishy-washy, in our opinion. That is the concern. The Minister of State has not really explained why Article 9 is not explicitly referred to so as to let us know what the competent authority must ensure compliance with in respect of the directive.