Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

By inserting marine spatial planning into this Bill, the House would be giving it importance and allowing us to implement the strategy afterwards. Senators would be saying that marine spatial planning belongs in a planning and development Bill. As Senators will appreciate, there was considerable difficulty in January, February or whenever it was. We were introducing a planning framework, but the legislation had been delayed for months in 2017. The framework caught up with and overtook the legislation. It would be a shame for that to happen again. I would prefer if the legislation was passed and the marine strategy followed. We have started the process, but it is at an early stage. Ideally, we would pass this legislation and use it to guide the process and copper-fasten a role for the Houses that they would not have if anything happened tomorrow. It is a use of-----