Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

This amendment is not in any way an attempt to dis the work that has been put in by officials to the marine planning framework or around this Bill. It is a serious piece of legislative work. However, there is a concern and the Minister of State and his officials know what that concern is. I asked one of the officials yesterday whether we are behind the curve on marine protected areas. He had to say "Yes" and that the situation we are in is not ideal. That is a blunt admission of the problem we face. Only a tiny amount of our enormous maritime area, which is precious, is protected, because successive governments - not this one, in particular, but previous governments - have failed to protect it. We are in a situation where we know corporate interests are lobbying explicitly, saying they do not want a plan-led approach to the development of our marine areas. That is what the Irish Wind Energy Association said. It does not want such a approach but, instead, a developer-led approach.

Those same corporate interests have been given special status under the national marine planning framework. That is a concern. We want to know what protection there is in that respect. We do not think they should have special status, to put it bluntly, given the agenda we know they have. They do not want plan-led development. They see the EU directives and proper planning and development as a block to their ability to make profit from our marine environment. While they might say this is all being done in the name of climate action, it is worth repeating that the most important carbon sink, bar none, is the sea. If we cut off our nose to spite our face in terms of destruction of the marine environment, it will cost us in our fight against climate change and biodiversity protection. That is what this amendment is directed at.

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