Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

To the best of my knowledge, it has already happened.

The staff of the marine environment section are physically in different locations but their chain of command and line of governance is now within the Department of Climate, Energy and Environment. They are working really well as part of that team. I see the benefits already. I recognise it is a culture shift for some in the Department, having been used to working in a different chain of command, but I recognise and thank staff for their effort in making it seamless. I can assure the committee it is working well at the moment anyway. If anything changes in that regard, I will be happy to report it to the committee.

It brings coherence to what we are trying to do in creating a virtual Department of the marine, with all of the important aspects that are now relevant from the Deputy's perspective, as she knows well, and what we are trying to do on the marine protected areas, MPAs, and the crossover between that and marine planning. We often talk about that spatial squeeze, together with the fisheries component. They all need to be around the table together and that is what we are trying to achieve here. Hopefully it brings clarity to that.