Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 30:

In page 30, between lines 9 and 10, to insert the following: “(3) Within two months following enactment, the Minister shall implement a process to provide for interim protection in the marine environment of the existing NMPF to ensure the designation of marine protected areas in accordance with Article 13(4) of Directive 2008/56/EC is not compromised and notwithstanding anything elsewhere in this Act no Maritime Area Consent or Development Consent shall be granted until that process is completed.”.

This was touched on in the previous contributions. Separate to this Bill is the marine protected areas legislation. We think such areas should be designated in parallel with the planning regime. It would be better if we knew what a marine protected area was or was not, for example, when it comes to wind developments.That is not the case and we are not going to get that marine protection legislation for another two years or so. In the meantime, what measures is the Government is taking that go above and beyond the existing protections - the existing planning schemes - to ensure we do not have more biodiversity loss in our marine environment? We think more protections are needed and we have put forward amendment No. 30 in this respect so I would welcome the Minister of State's response. I know Senator Higgins co-signed this amendment.