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

Let me press Professor Crowe. I am trying to keep within the science. If, for example, a particular part of our marine environment is damaged to such an extent that a species goes extinct or we lose some key feature, that is not an isolated thing in and of itself, and that can then have a knock-on effect and a further knock-on effect. From a scientific point of view, when we talk about reasons of overriding public interest, it is not just about whether economic activity A goes here or whether a high level of marine biodiversity conservation happens here; it is the question of what is the longer-term scientific impact if we go for that. When we talk to the NGOs, for the first time we start to see this tension between renewable energy, emissions reductions and biodiversity loss. We will hear some people say that we cannot have one while sacrificing the other, and there have to be robust ways of achieving both, accepting that we cannot keep everybody happy all of the time.