Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 19:

In page 14, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following: “Protection, conservation and restoration of the territorial seas

21.The Wildlife Act 1976 is amended in section 15(1)(c) by the substitution of “State and that territorial sea above it.” for “State.”.

The Minister of State will be glad to hear this is an amendment that relates to this jurisdiction, does not cut across the convention and is, in fact, within our scope. This is an amendment specifically related to the territorial seas. We are no longer talking about the continental shelf or even the economic zone but just our territorial seas, the part closest to home, where we have a large amount of national discretion, aside from such powers as may be shared through the law of the sea. I propose to amend the Wildlife Act 1976 by expanding the interpretation to mean the "State and that territorial sea above it." I understand there are some interpretations of the Wildlife Act that indicate the sea may already be incorporated, by reference to the sea above the land, but this is again an area where there has been some ambiguity in interpretation in the past. I ask the Minister of State to clarify this issue.