Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 543: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government when he will be publishing a Marine Spatial Strategy; if he intends to review the National Spatial Strategy and incorporate the Marine Spatial Strategy within this Plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36835/12]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Responsibility for marine matters is spread across a number of Departments and agencies and, in recognition of the need for better coordination on marine matters, a Marine Coordination Group comprising senior civil servants from the relevant Departments and chaired by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has been overseeing the development of an integrated marine plan for Ireland which is expected to be published shortly. The plan will provide a new momentum for growth in the marine area and will identify a range of actions to be implemented to deliver the Plan including an appropriate Maritime Spatial Planning Framework for Ireland.

In addition, and in keeping with commitments in the Programme for Government, work on the general scheme of a Bill to modernise the foreshore consent system and integrate it within the wider planning system is being progressed by my Department. The aim is to complete this work in the second half of the year and to arrange, subject to Government approval, for the drafting of the Bill as quickly as possible thereafter.

My Department has lead responsibility for implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), a major piece of EU legislation that requires Member States to achieve good environmental status in the marine environment by the year 2020 at the latest. Good environmental status in the marine environment means that the seas are clean, healthy and productive and that human use of the marine environment is maintained at a sustainable level. The preliminary work on Ireland's initial assessment under the MSFD is underway. This work will provide an accurate picture of the environmental status of our marine waters so that appropriate targets can be set in pursuit of good environmental status. As part of the initial assessment, an atlas of the Irish marine environment will be developed which will include the collation of all relevant marine environmental datasets (e.g. on marine habitats, seabed geology, contaminant mapping, etc.) into a central geographical data and information system.