Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

These are positive amendments to the legislation. I have questions relating to what happened with the wetlands in Tallaght last week. To what extent will this amendment prevent what happened in Tallaght from happening in the future? The statement from the local authorities was not satisfactory and did not show that they cared very much over how hurt people were by what happened. I watched the progress of the conservation effort and the efforts to preserve the biodiversity of the wetlands, in which Collie Ennis was especially involved. In the days before their destruction, we had written to local schools to try to get them involved in understanding the biodiversity of the site. I was honoured that Collie asked me to reach out to the schools to help in an education process around the site but we have no real idea where it will go now. I have not had time to go through each section of this amendment. As they are only coming through now, I guess we can treat them as if we were on Committee Stage and I ask the Minister of State to give us more information. The amendments mention strategies and action plans but will there be regulations protecting sites such as the Tallaght wetlands? Will they make it illegal to destroy conservation areas such as this, or will there just be guidelines?