Mr. P?draic Fogarty:

One can learn something by looking at how it is being done at the moment in our Natura 2000 marine sites. The NPWS is responsible for identifying and designating sites and is also responsible for monitoring them. When it comes to activities within them, typically fishing activities, that is the responsibility of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. If there are any changes to how fishing activities are done, the matter is decided within the Department. It does the appropriate assessment on the impact those changes are going to have. If we want any enforcement of that, we find the NPWS has no ability do so.

There was an incident in County Mayo not long ago where a dredger went into a special area of conservation, SAC, and destroyed the feature for which the SAC was designated. The NPWS had no power to do anything about it. Nothing happened. There is no restoration plan or sanction for the person who did it. There was no investigation into who did it or why. The NPWS does not have the power, in terms of resources or legislation, to do anything about such incidents. Maybe other Departments do not have the incentive to do anything about them. That is the kind of thing we want to avoid in the Bill.