Ms Laura Brien:

We have had some initial discussions with the Department on the Bill, which is working its way through the process. What I would highlight concerns how we will be functioning in the short term. It really concerns the designated marine area plans, DMAPs. Those are to be established on foot of the marine protected areas legislation. The first DMAP for the south coast has been out for public discussion and feedback. This draft DMAP will go through the formal consultation process prior to being submitted to the Dáil for approval. That is really the conduit that exists today for making some of the trade-offs between designating a marine area for renewables and doing so for some other resource, whether it relates to fishing or protected areas. I am talking about avoiding special areas of conservation, for example. That process exists today, and that is where we will be taking our decision-making over the next short while. When the DMAP comes out, it will specify areas suitable for offshore renewable development, and those are the areas in respect of which we will be focusing on the issuing of marine area consents for the activity in question. It is quite a strong tool that we will be working with. The DMAP will be coming back to the Oireachtas for decision and approval within quarter one of next year.