Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

On the amendments, this is a very extensive Bill. It was 900 pages in the end and there were 150-odd amendments on the last Stage in the Seanad. My sense from officials is that issue was about making sure the law was not contradictory in some sense. There were changes because we only established MARA last year and made the switch from the foreshore licensing system to this new marine planning system. That accounts for why an amendment may have come in late but I do not think we should read any more into it.

We have to be careful here. We have an independent legal system and people have a right to put in planning applications. It is important that An Bord Pleanála is independent, and any judicial decisions regarding that. We do not get into the legal arguments.

An Bord Pleanála also has to consider Government policy. We have to remember that the previous application, which was subject to that recent judgment, would have been made in September 2023 before the security paper, which is the key document in my mind setting out Government policy, was published. Obviously, An Bord Pleanála could not take it into account in any previous decision but in any revised one - and it has to be very careful as we have to be very careful not to interfere in the legal system in that way - it would obviously take into account what Government is saying. We maintain an independence but Government is clear in its position.

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