Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The question was on what the timeframe was. While the designation process was happening, was there no consideration of pending or interim designations? I am asking about the overall timeline of the designation process but also interim measures. When discussing the marine planning legislation, for example, and given that we had a series of legacy wind farm projects that had reached their maximums and were going to go for planning, we asked about what interim measures could be taken, as we all wanted wind energy. Based on evidence from other EU member states, the marine protected areas designation process is likely to take several years between the establishment of the legislation, the designated bodies, consultation, etc. To try to avoid the potentially negative trade-off of head 14(5)(a) where we have to choose between renewable energies and biodiversity in the meantime, are there interim measures or interim designations that could be considered, and was this issue considered in the drafting of the scheme?