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

Amendment No. 1 seeks to delay the commencement of significant parts of the Bill until such time as the national marine planning framework is reviewed. The review of the NMPF was discussed in detail on Dáil Committee Stage. As pointed out then, the NMPF is the first of a series of interconnected and related spatial plans for the maritime area. It is illogical to pause the commencement of the Bill for the review of the marine spatial plan, which was only published in July.

This Government takes marine management, decarbonisation and the protection of our maritime area seriously and we must move forward with this Bill. Section 17 requires that an NMPF is reviewed within six years. As stated on Committee Stage in the Dáil, the Government intends to carry out a review of this sooner, particularly for the first national maritime spatial plan. The review of the NMPF will be a significant undertaking, taking into account all the new data the Senator spoke about. It is important that it is given the time that is needed to carry out such a comprehensive review. This review should not be pressured by a Bill that is waiting to commence. We must focus our resources on getting the system up and running and I am happy that the existing NMPF underpins this system appropriately in its current form.

The Senator is correct that a lot of good data is being collected, particularly seismic and acoustic surveys. A lot of this will be dealt with in the legislation on designation of marine protected areas. Therefore I oppose this amendment.