Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 31 January 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government
General Scheme of the Marine Protected Areas Bill 2023: Discussion (resumed)
Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Okay. That was with regard to heads 9 and 10 with regard to the consultation and head 5 in respect of the expert group.
The other area in which I had an interest was head 12 and the idea of a temporary marine protected area, MPA, as a result of an emergency. The example given in the briefing was the idea of a significant oil leak or something along those lines. I wonder whether two years is a sufficient period. I would imagine the impact of that type of incident has a much longer impact than two years. Should that be closer to five years? If the idea is for the Minister to be able to temporarily designate those MPAs, we would want to have controls in place. We do not want a Minister going rogue either. Does Professor Crowe have any views on that?