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

I am happy with that. I am trying to get a sense of what the compensatory measures would be. What would be the case if there was a loss of biodiversity in location A and there was an attempt to facilitate the development or nurturing of that species loss in location B? What kinds of measures are we talking about? I know it is hard unless one is talking about a real-life case. Would the Minister of State be able to think of a better example to illustrate this point? When the Minister of State talked about compensatory measures and mentioned in that context the trade-off between the environment and the economic dimension, I would be interested if he could tease that out more.

On the same topic, perhaps, if the Minister of State looks at amendments in the same list of amendments, such as amendment No. 839, for example, it talks about subsection (11) where the competent authority is satisfied that there is "an absence of alternative solutions to the ... development plan" and where the Minister has concluded that. I assume that the "competent authority" is the planning authority or the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, which has decided that there are no alternatives but it is the Minister who decides apparent reasons of "overriding public interest" that compensatory measures are proposed. Is that the two-step approach and formula for decision-making? What level of trade-off is permitted - if the Minister of State can understand what I am saying - between the damage which may arise from the plan or the outworkings of it versus the criteria which are set out, whether by way of compensation or otherwise?