Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Again, Deputy Matthews has summed up pretty much what I want to say. That there is no definition of "interim measure" would really leave us in a bind if we pursued this amendment. I would most likely have to go back out and do the public consultation again for the marine protected areas because it was not something identified in the expert group report. It is not possible to do this. As Deputy Matthews has said, we do not have a definition of "marine protected areas" in an Irish context or the legislation for those areas. We are still trying to distil the huge input from the public consultation on the matter, which is also critical.

Again, the amendment presumes there are currently no environmental protections in the maritime area, which is just not the case, as there are. Deputies should feel assured by that. I am disappointed they did not feel some sense of reassurance from the presentation they received at yesterday's Oireachtas joint committee meeting yesterday.

See this speech in context