Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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1179. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of his plans for the extension of marine protected areas; and the timeline for the implantation of these areas. [51158/18]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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As I have stated in previous responses on this matter, I am committed to developing primary legislation to provide for the creation of a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in accordance with the requirements of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Work on this will commence in earnest when legislation to prohibit certain products containing plastic microbeads is sufficiently advanced. Government approved the General Scheme of the Microbeads Bill in October 2018 and the work on drafting that Bill is being progressed.

It is also my intention to establish an expert advisory group in the first half of 2019 to help identify candidate marine protected areas.