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

I just want to have the point clarified. I do not understand, and frankly I do not accept, that maritime area consents should not be required for explorations, surveys or whatever it might be. No justification has been given. This includes works related to looking for and extracting petroleum for example, which seems to be excluded, or exploration related to mineral extraction. What are these principles referred to in good management or sustainable management?

This is not an exact analogy but in some ways I see the MAC as a little bit like some of the licensing arrangements that some of the big industrial offshore wind companies already have under the Foreshore Act for particular areas. It is not for doing development, it is for doing surveys. The Minister of State is shaking his head but an explanation would be helpful. There are works involved in advance of an outright consent to development. Those companies doing this work do not have a consent to development, so they are doing something in advance. The Minister of State should not really patronise me while I am asking these questions, to be honest.