Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 4 November 2021
Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government
Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source
"Significant" is a get-out clause because what is "significant"? We think that any amendment to a maritime spatial plan, MSP, or a designated maritime area plan, DMAP, should be subject to the same level of scrutiny and all the sort of requirements that the preparation of an MSP and DMAP would involve. These are the public consultations and the full compliance with all of the directives and all of the matters that we have discussed, whereas if one has a category of not-significant amendments, these could potentially allow amendments that some might think significant, but can be classed by a Minister as not being significant, and therefore get around the necessary protections and so on, that we are very keen should exist in protecting our marine environment.
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