Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail)
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I thank Mr. Cronin and Dr. Ó Cadhla for meeting with us today. This is an important piece of work they are undertaking on the designation of geographical areas within the marine and maritime area not just for protection and conservation but also for promotion in the future. I thank them and their colleagues for the work they are doing in this space. As the Chair said, as a committee we recommended, as part of our pre-legislative scrutiny report, that there would be legislation brought forward. It is encouraging to hear there are heads being prepared.

The programme for Government has set out an ambition to have 30% of the marine area designated by 2030. I am mindful the Department was only set up in 2019 and it has been working through a pandemic. I congratulate the staff on the progress made to date. It would be helpful for us to understand the pathway the Department sees to achieving that 30% target by 2030 if the witnesses could talk a little bit about that. They mentioned that, in the interim, the Department is undertaking extensive monitoring programmes. Will the witnesses share with us some of the specifics of the extent of the monitoring programmes that are being operated in the meantime? If that information is not readily available, it may be something they could circulate after the meeting.