Professor Tasman Crowe:

It is important to provide for monitoring. That is not a cheap thing to do, although some economies are potentially available through integrating monitoring programmes for other legislation. The marine strategy framework directive is explicitly mentioned in the Bill. The water framework directive also has monitoring requirements and so on. It is important to monitor the activities and pressures that are being imposed on the environment and the way the environment is changing under those pressures and in areas where those pressures have been lifted. That enables the adaptability and flexibility of the system. One is often making initial decisions with a limited amount of information. There is an indication that particular activity causes problems for the designated feature but one does not know for sure, especially in an Irish context although there may be international evidence. Monitoring gives the opportunity to make an initial restriction and see if there is an effect from restricting things in this particular way. If there is no effect, the situation will need to be revisited and a different way to manage the activity must be found. Removing that activity may make no difference so it should be allowed to persist. It is a part of providing the evidence base for those discussions of co-management groups around the table. There will be situations where we just do not quite know what the effect will be yet. The precautionary principle should not prevent one from taking action but one then needs to check whether that action is merited or appropriate. That is what the monitoring is for.

There are two levels to the issue. The Deputy asked whether individual MPAs or the network should be monitored. Both should be monitored at the same time. There should be a set of objectives for the network as a whole. It must be determined whether the network is delivering on the commitment to conserve and restore a range of specific habitats and features, and assess whether they are measurably improved by the actions of the network. To do that, one needs to know what is going on in the individual MPAs. Both of those perspectives are required.

The Deputy also asked about restoration, which is going to become a big issue for the State to grapple with under the new EU nature restoration law that is coming down the track. I am sure there will be a lot of discussion about exactly how that needs to be done and checked, and so on. Monitoring is required to check whether it is working or not. That is not as straightforward as one might think. It is not just a question of going back to the place that is being restored. One must also look at other places which have not been restored and other places which were never damaged. Nature changes all the time. One never knows if an intervention in one place is causing the change that one sees elsewhere or if the change is coincidental. One needs to be aware of what is going on in the wider environment to determine whether restoration is successful. To do it well requires a well-resourced programme that has clear objectives and is well designed to meet them.