Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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145. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the role the Naval Service will have in the recently announced Atlantic Current and Evlanov Sea basin Marine Protected Area and the North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy to 2030. [3832/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I am aware of Ireland's approval of the International Agreement highlighted by the Deputy and I congratulate my colleagues Ministers O'Brien and Noonan and their team for securing such an agreement during Ireland’s chairmanship of the OSPAR Commission.

The OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic is a legally binding treaty through which Ireland and 14 other countries, plus the European Union, collaborate, and develop and coordinate actions in order to ensure the sustainable use and ongoing protection of the North-East Atlantic environment. Neither military or defence matters, nor fisheries management, come under the remit of the OSPAR Convention.

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage are the responsible Department for all matters relating to the OSPAR Convention.

The North Atlantic Current and Evlanov Sea basin marine protected area (NACES MPA) and the North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy 2030 (NEAES 2030) constitute two key deliverables of the 2021 Ministerial meeting under the 1992 OSPAR Convention, which took place in Portugal in October last.

The North Atlantic Current and Evlanov Sea basin MPA is situated in mid-Atlantic area beyond national jurisdiction waters, in other words in the High Seas. While this important site for marine birds lies within the OSPAR Maritime Area, it lies far beyond Ireland’s maritime area.

The Naval Service is the State's principal sea-going agency tasked with a variety of defence and other roles. While the main day to day tasking of the Naval Service is to provide a fishery protection service in accordance with the State's obligations as a member of the European Union, it also carries out a number of other non-fishery related tasks such as search and rescue, diving operations, drugs interdiction as well as many more. In terms of fishery protection, the Naval Service is tasked with patrolling all Irish waters from the shoreline to the outer limits of the Exclusive Economic Zone.

There appears to be little direct role to be played by the Naval Service as a result of the recently announced NACES MPA. However my Department looks forward to further engagement with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on this matter if required.