Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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I thought that was the case but I was not 100% sure. Amendment No. 247 proposes timelines for strategic infrastructure developments, SIDs. These are potentially large and complex applications as they relate to the marine environment. There is a lot of information that people do not know about. It is somewhat easier to deal with a planning application for the terrestrial environment in respect of knowledge and know-how. Those applications do not need the same level of expertise in getting the information together for something happening in the marine environment. We do not want inordinately long periods involved because we have to have movement and these are pressing issues, but the period referred to is the minimum required to ensure proper consultation about the complex issues that are considered. I would be fearful of losing information if we do not have that longer time period. I have made the general point that information from public consultation can be very beneficial to a project and its success. There is often knowledge in the wider community that the developers and their consultants or engineers do not have. That information can often come out through the consultation process from the local fishing community or other people who have knowledge that may not be captured otherwise in the process. Issues can then be dealt with as part of the process and that can then lead to the success of the project. If that is not captured and dealt with in the process because there is not enough time, it may cause issues with development and things can get derailed. This should be seen as ensuring the process is strong enough to capture all those issues to lead to more robust outcomes.