Ms Karin Dubsky:

The consequences can also be that we have further biodiversity loss instead of a turnaround restoration because if the expertise or understanding is lacking, particularly now that the local authorities will take over the nearshore zone, and they do not have that in-house expertise at the moment, we could have a serious bulge coming to An Bord Pleanála unless that is prevented from happening by very careful guidelines and giving enough expertise to the local authorities. In the teething days, it is very likely there will be challenges on the necessity of it. Something like blue carbon seagrass is not protected in general except for a few places where it happens to be in a marine protected area, MPA. It can just be lost, literally overnight, if we do not have the right process in place and the right expertise in An Bord Pleanála.