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

Section 2 of the Bill provides for interpretations. The proposed amendment would limit the range of bodies that could be prescribed for certain functions in regulations by providing a limited interpretation in section 2. The appropriate place to expand the list of prescribed bodies for certain functions will be in the regulations. My Department will begin preparing all relevant regulations to support this legislation once this Bill is passed.

I will add that all the bodies listed in the amendment were engaged at the early development of the NMPF and the proposed marine planning system. Most of them were on the NMPF advisory group, which is still in place. We believe in early and continuous engagement rather than a set-piece arrangement at the end of a process that, at this stage, is somewhat old-fashioned and reductive. This is why the NMPF has been so well-received and it is our intention to repeat this method for future marine spatial plans. In that regard, I will oppose this amendment.