Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I have a concern about that. We do not have enough independent data. We know what we are looking for. We are talking about MPAs, not the consent process around planning. If a planning application is submitted, scientific data must be provided as part of that process and those data would not necessarily come from an independent source. Presumably they would come from consultants on behalf of a developer. I am not saying anything about the maritime area, but we certainly know from land planning applications that data and the information that is submitted by consultants working on behalf of applicants are not always as independent or robust as we might want them to be, to put it mildly. The concern is that we would not have enough of own independent data and mapping in place with respect to designations and we would be reliant on information that could be partial or somewhat skewed from applicants and, consequently, there would be an inability to assess that against other independent data. That is the concern I have. I would be interested to hear Mr. Cronin address that aspect.