Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the professor for being here with us and sharing his expertise. Learning about what is happening in other jurisdictions is fascinating. Well done to him on the recommendations of the 2020 report and how many of them have made it into the legislation we are talking about today.

I find the co-creation element of the discussion fascinating. If we could take that model and operate it everywhere, we would have a more rounded society and a lot of trust in planning processes and decision-making but, unfortunately, we have many constrictions and restrictions. I would be interested in learning a little more about how co-creation works on a practical level. Senator Fitzpatrick asked about international experience and Professor Crowe has examples of that to talk us through at a later date or send on after the meeting. Much of this is about learning from what is working, and what is not working, in other jurisdictions and ensuring we are fine-tuning our approach in a way that is going to achieve the objectives and be as protective as possible. That is why the international element is so critical.

Professor Crowe mentioned in his opening statement that the first step is to establish an ocean environmental policy statement with overarching objectives and targets at a national level. Will he tease that out for me and tell me what it would look like, what those objectives would be, who would be in charge of meeting them and what kind of timeframes would apply? As Professor Crowe has eloquently outlined, there are complexities in respect of comparisons between areas. Direct comparison is never the right approach to examine effects when it comes to nature and the marine. What will the objectives of a policy statement look like? Can Professor Crowe share with us any other information in terms of international experience that we should be taking on board and baking into this process? I also ask him to delve a little deeper into the co-creation side of things to give us an indication as to how, on a practical level, that would work. Does it delay decision-making? It would lead to better decisions but at what cost? How do we ensure it is achieved within the quickest possible timeframe?