Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2021-12-14
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Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland

I appreciate that these will be part of the marine protected areas but my concern is about the marine planning framework, especially with regard to annual or biannual migration patterns. They will not wait for the marine protected areas to be declared. Migration patterns cannot be damaged or disrupted. It is one of those areas where that kind of interim measure of protection is a concern. While it is fine that this issue might come under the marine protected areas, is the Minister of State confident that, until we have them, there are measures within the marine planning framework that will give due and appropriate consideration to this factor? Will it be considered in the granting of MACs and the drawing up of other things or is that something the Minister of State intends to address in guidelines?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2021-12-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:57+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-12-14