Ms Attracta U? Bhroin:

It is very important to have these elements within the legislation, but that is not sufficient. We also need to have access to justice provisions effectively to be able to hold public authorities to account when they fail to follow through on monitoring obligations or in respect of the enforcement end of the equation. The committee will be particularly familiar with section 160 of the Planning and Development Act, which provides for third party enforcement rights, because it has always been an issue, certainly in the field of planning. There is the issue of resources within local authorities for enforcement.

There is nothing to provide clarity on how, although this would obviously not apply to the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, a future Minister would be held to account for not doing something or for doing something that is in breach of this Act. The lack of provision in the legislation to provide clarity on what can be done is a glaring omission. The equivalent of third party enforcement for both private and public authorities is a critical omission. Those things are required to give strength and robustness. If public authorities know that they will be held to account, that is an incentive to improve the quality of decision-making. It is a fundamental element of our rule of law. I know many Deputies and Senators on this committee have a keen understanding of that. Monitoring, enforcement, targets and so on need that backbone. This is a serious omission.

I will say one thing to support Mr. Lyne and go back to my point about relying on monitoring within the marine strategy framework directive. Mr. Lyne alluded to a population-significant event. It was significant with regard to the loss of a particular species. To the best of my recollection, over that period, the noise indicators and monitoring for Ireland indicated that everything was tickety-boo and that there were no problems. We did not know. We did not have the data or capacity to be able to understand what was happening in our water. I was appalled when Mr. Lyne explained this to me. That is the sort of gap where we need to be careful that we do not rely on the marine strategy framework directive where it is weak. We need to be able to address that. The allusion to this being a naval exercise event is not mere speculation. In the last number of months, the navy involved has effectively publicly confirmed its manoeuvres in the area. We are speaking with some authority and a basis with regard to these concerns. I see Mr. Lyne nodding.

When we talk about whales and acoustic noise, it is not just that species which is affected, which requires the strictest protection under EU law. It attaches to each individual species. It does not matter where it is. It is Martini protection, "anytime, anyplace, anywhere". It also applies to breeding and resting places. That resting place is the surface of the sea. Experts in the International Monetary Fund, IMF, conservatively estimated the ecosystem services of a great whale as being worth over €2 million. That is some time ago. That does not just relate to carbon sequestration but to other ecosystem services. It basically brings nutrients from the bottom of the sea right to the surface of the sea when it defecates. That spawns phytoplankton bloom and basically keeps the seas alive. Whales are a keystone species. There are multiple reasons we need to address this, and acoustic monitoring in particular, not to mention the tourism volume for coastal communities associated with ecotourism. I have done it in Ireland and paid for it in Ireland. Before I booked my holidays, I made sure that I had booked my whale-watching when I went to New Zealand many years ago. I do not fly because of climate generally.