Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to do that. I will ask a couple of quick questions and then I have to go. Deputy Higgins asked about the staffing and the upskilling. The witnesses are taking on a huge job and an undertaking of 52 local authorities that have developed expertise over the last decades whereas the agency is doing it for a much bigger area in a short period of time. In terms of the gaps in skillsets, do the witnesses see any work they need to do with the Department with responsibility for higher education to potentially bring in and train new people in new areas of working and to develop new skillsets for that? Do the witnesses envisage any role, and this will come up from time to time, in conciliation and public engagement between potential developers of projects and coastal communities? Have the witnesses through that out? Is that a role the agency would take on?

As regards enforcement, the witnesses said the local authorities will do some elements of enforcement. Will there be a role for MARA in terms of even informal enforcement with developers? They are all the soft skills local authorities have that are not necessarily guided by the Acts but which they engage in and that stops things escalating at a very early stage. I will check the transcripts.