Malcolm Noonan (Green Party)

I welcome that update. The word "codesign" is critically important here. It is not to say that we had not made significant progress. Notwithstanding the legislative piece, we got close to the 10% strict protection through the east coast and seas off Wexford special protection areas, SPAs, for marine birds. That was hugely important. Separately, the two ObSERVE programmes in mapping the ocean and marine biodiversity have been hugely significant, so I welcome the update. I am not sure if it is the correct approach, but I hope it is. I welcome some of the measures that the Minister of State has put in there and that he has given acceptance to what was in the previous Bill using the DMAPs approach. Critically, the main thing is that the State will get there as quickly as possible now. We have had significant delay in drafting. This is not through anyone's fault; these things happen. However, it is critically important that we meet our 30% by 2030 targets given the challenges that our marine biodiversity is facing, but again I welcome the update.